Your Life Could End Up Changing
by Annibelle White
Summary: What if Elphie and Fiyero had figured out they liked each other at Shiz? After one drunken night, there're a lot of complications to deal with. Pairings: Fiyeraba and later Glinda and Boq
1. Chapter 1: First Moves

Chapter One: First Moves 

They were very, very drunk; and Elphaba, who was normally quite good at handling herself, had had as much as, or more than, he had. She was giggling uncontrollably and smiling at him. Neither of them could remember anymore how they got separated from the others and found themselves strolling hand in hand through the park. After a few minutes, they began getting bad looks from park security and they decided to find somewhere else to chat.

"Let's go back to my dorm room. I don't have a roommate, so we can talk there. Something tells me that if we stop this conversation right now, we won't have another like it again; and I like this, this talking and laughing with you." Fiyero still managed to stand tall, always keeping his dignity and grace, even when he was otherwise drunk.

Elphaba accepted, surprisingly, and followed Fiyero into his dorm. It was an elegant room (well of course, he was a prince, after all). Vinkus silk scarves hung on the walls and the pillows on the bed were made of soft velvet. She sat down on the bed, pleased to find that it was comfortable. He sat down next to her, telling himself to resist the temptation to kiss her.

"What do you want to talk about?" He asked her.

Suddenly, looking at him, she didn't want to _talk_ so much anymore. Her eyes blazed and he couldn't help but kiss her. She was responsive and allowed him to slide his hands onto her hips. He could feel that she loved his touch, that she reveled in his affection.

"Elphie," He looked at her adoringly. "I think I…"

"Shhh." She cut him off, taking the initiative to kiss him. This time, he pulled her back onto the comfort of the bed. Before they realized (or cared) what was happening, Fiyero had begun to undo the metal clasps of Elphaba's black dress, tugging it off of her eagerly. Elphaba had unbuttoned his white cotton shirt, kissed each tattooed blue diamond on his chest and let her hands roam.

The next thing they knew, they were completely nude on his bed, excepting the Vinkus scarf that he had grabbed and tied around her waist. Fiyero was panting as he and Elphaba played teasing games with the scarf, knowing that what was going to happen couldn't be put off for much longer. Curiosity would soon bring them together.

Fiyero was exploring her emerald body with his hands when she moaned softly. At that moment, he wanted her and he wanted her more than just very badly. The moan had instilled a desire in him that could not be restrained. With a loving glance into Elphaba's hazy dark eyes, he slid inside of her.

Her body almost jolted, groping and searching. Her back arched to him and she moved beneath him, heightening the pleasure. Together they slipped into a deep, untamed drunken bliss.

The first thing she noticed that was out of the norm was the soreness (though it tingled almost pleasantly, too) between her legs; it felt like her calf muscles did when she walked too much, a good, but achy feeling… Then she noticed the sunlight. The dorm room she and Glinda shared had small windows and they never got so much sunlight. Next, she realized she wasn't clothed. She had no nightgown on, nothing at all. But the last and final realization was that she was not alone in the bed.

Fiyero had already woken a few moments before. They looked at each other, the same thought hitting them at the same time. Elphaba held the blanket to herself protectively; ashamed of her nudity for some ridiculous reason, for she was sure he'd seen enough of her the night before. Fiyero sat up, staring at Elphaba. She said, "Pinch me and wake me up. Tell me that we didn't do what I think we did last night."

"You don't remember, do you? I can't really remember, either. Well, we were drunk, that explains that much. But think for a minute. Do you feel like we… you know? It certainly looks like we did."

"Shit." She searched the room with her eyes, trying desperately to find her clothes. If she was ever going to get back to her own dorm without getting caught on her way out of his, she'd need to be clothed, obviously. "I can't believe this."

He wasn't regretting it nearly as much as she was. Trying to ease the tension, he said, "Hey, it could've been worse."

"How?"

"You could've ended up in bed with someone you find really disgusting or someone you hate. I mean, imagine if I was Avaric."

"Don't even say that." She took a deep breath. "Fiyero, you're married, you idiot! And we're what, nineteen? Twenty? This is wrong. This is very, very wrong."

"Wait a second! First of all, I'm not _really_ married yet, not technically. And the girl I'm 'married' to is some random tribal girl that my parents decided on who I have only seen once. I don't exactly love her."

"It doesn't change the fact that you're going to be married!" She sighed. "Oh, no. Tell me we weren't stupid enough not to have been careful."

He looked at her guiltily. "I'm pretty sure we weren't careful… but don't take my word for it, I don't remember much, either."

"I could end up pr…"

"Elphie, calm down."

"How can you tell me to calm down? We weren't smart. We weren't _safe_."

He moved to put an arm around her, realizing only then that, even sober, he had feelings for her. "It's all right. We'll handle this."

"Fiyero, I don't care what this is in your eyes, but to me, you're already married. And look at our situation. I'm in your dorm room, where, mind you, I'm not supposed to be. I should be in my own dorm room, but that's in a completely different building. Oh, and let's not forget that last night, as best as we can guess, we had unprotected sex. How, exactly, do you think we're going to _handle_ this?"

There wasn't anything for him to say. He simply kept his arm around her tightly, thankful that there were no classes in the last few days of the term. Eventually, though, she would be missed or there'd be a room check. Jokingly, he said, "I wonder who made the first move. I don't remember."

Elphaba, who believed that no one, certainly not Fiyero, would want her in any way, said, "It was probably me. You didn't stop me, but that doesn't matter. I have a habit of getting myself into the worst situations. What in Oz did I get myself into _now_? And get you into, too?"

"No, Elphie. I think _I _made the first move. I know I was the one who got you drunk, anyway."

"It doesn't matter who did what, not now."

"It does kind of bother me that we don't even get the benefit of a nice, good memory of it." He tried to laugh good-naturedly.

She gazed at him, the diamonds on his face bringing her to think about the ones on his neck that went down to his chest… she'd seen that much the night before, she realized, and probably a lot more. As angry and upset as she was about their situation, when she looked at him, her eyes couldn't leave his body. He wasn't ashamed of himself the way that she was. His skin and everything else that made him so different to everyone else were nothing to him. Yet, _she_ was still afraid to let him see her.

They lay quietly in that same position, still under the blanket, not having moved at all except for Elphaba's head resting on Fiyero's chest, both of them thinking about where they were headed from there. Elphaba was right, Fiyero realized, he technically was married, though he really had only seen her once, and by accident no less. Fiyero began to wonder how strict the Arjiki custom of arranged marriage was, exactly. Could he convince his parents, not to mention the tribe, to allow him the choice? And, even if he got that far, could he convince them to let him choose someone who was not an Arjiki? He wanted to be with Elphaba, though he'd only just realized he truly cared for her.

As Fiyero thought about this, Elphaba was scorning herself. It had been one thing to stare, to touch his hand, even to let him kiss her, for such things were pretty much harmless. But now they'd taken it as far as it could go, and that was way too far. Yet, if it was too far, why was she putting off getting up and leaving?

"Elphie, my Elphie," he mumbled into her hair, "I honestly do want to be with you, so much that it aches. You could never even comprehend the things I'd do just to be with you."

"No. You don't want me. And if you do, or think you do, you want me for all the wrong reasons," she told him.

"What are those reasons, if you think you know so well?"

"You don't know any better," she replied despondently, "And you want me because, like you, I'm different. Of course, there's always the chance you only want me because of the fact that we had sex last night…"

"I wouldn't do that."

Elphaba raised her eyebrows and blatantly pointed out where they were.

"We were drunk. But Elphaba…"

"We still had sex."

Her words were cold and simple. It almost seemed as if the word "sex" was too straightforward, too vulgar. "Can we rephrase that as 'made love', please?"

She couldn't help but adore his naïveté and tiredly, she nuzzled her head against his chest and murmured, "Whatever you want."

That settled it, at least for him. "I love you."

Her heart pounded rapidly. No one had ever used those words in her presence and directed them straight at her. "Fiyero, don't say that."

"But I do love you, Elphie."

"Right. Even if that were the case, which it is not, I don't know what there is for me to say to that."

He just looked at her, drinking in the sight of her, or the little of her shoulders that he could see. She was correct in saying that he loved her because she was different. The green skin made her who she was and he loved her for who she was. He knew she only pretended to be so cold, and that something inside of her didn't truly want to reject everyone. "Elphie, if there is any possible way for me to get out of this damned arranged marriage custom, I will, for you."

Her eyes were big, soft, and caring, but she shook her head. "No, Fiyero. Your path in life has been set out for you. We have been given different paths in life for a reason."

He noticed, then, that she seemed to care about him as much as he did about her. Why was she being so resistant? "And our paths crossed, and that was for a reason, too!"

"But you don't love me. Our paths crossed because we got drunk, Fiyero. Things like this happen and not all of them have reasons."

She'd been in his room for a while, and she'd already been gone much too long. She did have to leave. After making him look away as she got dressed and opening the window to climb out (thank Oz that Fiyero was on the first story), he kissed her goodbye. "I love you."

She looked at him, a forlorn, lonely look in her eyes, and shook her head. "We both wish that you were telling the truth, Fiyero. But that doesn't mean that you are." Heart sinking, she hurried back to her dorm, leaving Fiyero to stare out his window as it hit him that she'd just admitted that she wanted him to love her.

Glinda was waiting, her hands on her hips, when Elphaba got in. "Elphaba! Sweet Oz, we've been looking everywhere for you."

"You have not been looking everywhere, because if you'd looked everywhere, you would have found me."

"Very funny, Elphie. Where have you been? You're a mess! Look at this, your dress is lopsided and I'm not even going to start about your hair…"

"Glinda, I thought you of all people would know, looking like a mess is the latest fashion." But Glinda was right. Her sleeve was halfway rolled up on the right side and her tights were bunched at the left knee. And Glinda was definitely correct about her hair.

"Listen, Elphie. Madame Morrible has no idea that you've been gone. Ama Clutch does, but she won't immediately report it to Morrible. If you don't tell me where you've been," Glinda said in a huff, "I will tell Morrible myself."

Elphaba was horrified; she had no idea what to say to such a thing. "I… oh, Glinda, if I told you, you'd think I was crazy and delusional. And, yes, I've been missing for a little over twelve hours and I may get in trouble for that. But the trouble I could get into for where I was and what I was doing makes any other punishment I could get look almost lenient."

"Why can't you just tell me? I won't report it if you tell me. I can keep a secret."

"So can I. And it's not just my secret to keep."

"Not just your secret? Elphie, what could you possibly have been doing that involved other people?"

"No, Glinda, I will not tell you. I can't tell you what I was doing, who I was with or where I was. I'd tell you what I was doing, but I know you'd demand to know at least who was with me."

"Please don't make me do this, Elphie. I don't want to have to report you to Madame Morrible. Just tell me what you were doing and I won't ask anymore questions, I promise."

"This is one promise you are going to hate keeping, that's for sure. After I tell you, you'll freak out at me. But if you _promise_ not to say a word and no more questions and you really mean it, I guess I'd have to tell you."

"I promise." Glinda raised her right hand like she was taking an oath. The look on her face was so serious that Elphaba had to bite her lip until it bled just to keep from laughing.

She took a deep breath and began her explanation. "Last night when we left the café, we were all a little tipsy, right?"

"Just a little."

"I was tipsy enough to drink more later on when I was alone with someone who I felt comfortable with. And we were drunk and we, well…"

"Out with it."

"We did it." Elphaba couldn't believe the confused, oblivious look on her roommate's face. "We did it. As in: we had sex."

Glinda burst out laughing in a very unladylike manner. "Right, and I was out buying ugly clothes!"

"You bought new clothes?"

"Elphaba, come on, tell." She met Elphaba's eyes and stepped back. "Oh, sweet Oz, sweet Oz, sweet Oz, you're serious, aren't you?"

Elphaba nodded solemnly.

"You and this mystery lover were _how_ drunk?"

"Really drunk. But, Glinda, if you knew the confusion and mess I've gotten myself into with this boy… this _man_," Fiyero was, after all, above eighteen and therefore a man; and she certainly saw him as a man after the previous twenty-four hours, "I wish you could understand, I really do. But he and I aren't supposed to be together; it's against a million rules. It'd never work out." Looking at Glinda's face, she said, "Fine, fine, ask your questions. Just no asking who or where, all right?"

"All right. You've never done this before and just haven't told me or something like that, right?"

Sarcastically, Elphaba replied, "Oh, yeah, sure, I do it all the time. Glinda, no! You know I have more sense than that… oh, I know, now I don't, but I'm usually more sensible than that."

"You did use some form of protection, right?"

Elphaba stared at the ground, fighting panic. "This is where it gets kind of bad, isn't it?" She leaned against the wall and sank down, hugging her knees. She hid her face and tried to calm her nerves.

"Elphie! Don't do that, please." Glinda had never seen anything make Elphaba so anxious and upset. She rushed over to her friend and crouched down to her eye level. "It's very unlikely that you're pregnant. You only did it once. I just… I can't believe that you, of all people…"

"I'm not as antisocial as you think I am, Glinda. We all get overexcited every once in a while. I can't help that I fell for someone. If you saw him…you have no idea…" But didn't Glinda have some sort of idea? She knew Fiyero. Suddenly Elphaba was seeing the dark, ochre skin; those marvelous blue diamonds in the back of her eyelids. Knowing she couldn't truly have him made her ache.

Glinda knew who it was. It had to be. She saw the way that Elphaba looked at him. "Elphie, oh, come here." She hugged Elphaba. "It's not good. I understand. But why in Oz…? Well, I know why, but didn't anything in the back of your mind tell you that it was wrong? The thought never crossed your mind that you knew that there was no way you could be together? Elphie, he can't choose you whether he wants to or not."

Elphaba looked up, confused. Did Glinda know?

"Look, I don't want to sound rude, Elphie, but _does_ Fiyero actually care? Would he rather be with you than the girl his parents have chosen?"

"He said…" Elphaba was shocked. "You knew it was Fiyero?"

"Yes. Ha! I knew it! I knew you liked him!"

"Glinda, shut up! Don't even think about saying another word."

"Does he love you, though?"

Elphaba repeated most of her and Fiyero's earlier conversation, wishing she could believe it.

Glinda was still getting over the fact that _Elphaba_ had gotten further than she had. Her green, unfashionable, smarmy roommate had just had sex and Glinda had only kissed a boy. This was a strange turn of events. All the same, she tried to comfort Elphaba. "Well, maybe there is hope. He said he wanted to find a way out of that marriage. Maybe his parents will be reasonable enough to let him choose who he wants to marry."

"Even if they did, they probably wouldn't approve of the green-skinned freak."

"He told you he'd do what he could, Elphie. Maybe it'll work out, hope, Elphie. Give it a chance."

Chances. Fiyero sat at the desk in his room, thinking to himself. He knew he would take the throne. But, if he was allowed to marry a non-Arjiki, would his son after be allowed to do so? It didn't matter. He had three brothers, and they'd all have children eventually. Hell, one of them could marry the girl that he was supposed to marry. They could even share that damned castle, if that did him any good. He was in the end of his third year in college, shouldn't he be allowed the right to make his own choices?

He sighed and propped his head up on his arm. Summer would begin soon, and he would be going home. Perhaps he could discuss the issue of the marriage with his parents then.

The calendar on the wall said that there were two days until they were officially out. But he hadn't crossed off the previous day like he normally did every night before bed; he'd been a bit distracted…

His eyes drifted towards the bed. Elphaba, Elphaba, Elphaba, Elphaba… He didn't know how he would be able to sleep in that bed and stay sane. It smelled like her and it smelled like sex and passion and love and everything good that she represented to him, even if he couldn't fully remember. There was no way to avoid thinking about it; he could practically taste her kiss. Was she remembering him this way?

He doubted it. Their lovemaking had bothered her, it had scared her. He supposed it was because it was too far out of line for her. Not only had they both grown up being told that sex before marriage was wrong, but they couldn't even get married if they wanted to, anyway. Well, he did have all summer to convince his parents to forget about the tradition. Then, he hoped, such things wouldn't bother her and she'd actually allow herself to be loved.

Suddenly, he remembered that he was supposed to have met their group of friends at the café in approximately ten minutes. How would his Elphie act?

Quickly, he scribbled a note to give her.

_Elphie, we need to talk. I'm leaving to go home for the summer tomorrow afternoon. Meet me outside the park (you know the one) at 11pm, please… I beg you. There a lot of things I need to say to you before I leave. Once again, my sweet Elphie, I love you. But I've said that many times and I hope to have the chance to say it many more. I will not sign this; I believe you know whom it's coming from. Who else would be daring enough to call himself your Prince Charming?_

He thought the last line and the pun on his royalty to be a bit witty and was proud of himself for the cleverness. He grabbed his coat, stuffed the note in his pocket and almost jogged over to the café.

The atmosphere at the table was giddy. Everyone was laughing and toasting to everything. It seemed like everyone was happy – well, everyone except for Elphaba. She was unusually quiet and would not meet his eyes. He found it surprising how fragile and vulnerable she looked. It made him want to hold her as he had before. Poor Elphie, he thought, stuck in the middle of a booth, two or three people on either side of her. He'd wanted to sit next to her, but maybe it was best that he didn't; people talk. Instead, he took a chair next to the one across from her, in which Boq was sitting. She still looked away.

Glinda was looking at him strangely, almost disbelievingly. Had Elphaba told her? She was Elphaba's friend and roomie, after all, and she'd apparently made sure to sit next to Elphaba. He caught Glinda's eye and smiled lightly; she smiled back, but it was a sort of knowing smile. But that was all right. If Elphie had confided in Glinda, then she must know that her secret would be kept in confidence. He turned his gaze again to Elphaba, who was staring at her hands folded in her lap. Her eyes flicked upwards once, saw him looking at her, and stared down again.

Fiyero met Glinda's glance and mouthed, "You know, don't you?"

She gave him a curt, somewhat disapproving nod.

He gave Glinda an imploring look and then stood up. "I'm going to walk around the building once or twice. It's stuffy in here and I need some fresh air." Casually, he stepped outside, waiting for Glinda to find her excuse.

"So, you got her drunk, slept with her and now what? Use her some more until you get bored? Marry your arranged bride and keep her on the side for a good time?" Glinda's words were bold. They began to stroll around the building.

"Is she all right?"

"She's upset with herself, not with you. I think she actually loves you."

"Why is she avoiding me? She won't look at me."

"She doesn't know how to act around you in public now, that's why. Personally, I'd question your feelings for her."

He stopped walking. "Listen to me. I love her. And I mean that. Admittedly, I didn't realize exactly how much I loved her until this morning, but I _do_ love her. You can never even understand the way it's tearing me apart to think that I can't be with her if I don't figure something out." He sighed.

"All right, then. I was just making sure. Take no offense."

"None taken."

"Anyway, regarding your situation, what are you going to do if she ends up pregnant because of your little adventure?"

"You know everything, don't you?"

"No, but if you think that isn't nagging in the back of her mind right now, then you really don't know anything about women."

"If she did end up pregnant, then I'd have no choice but to tell my parents that I slept with a girl at college, got her pregnant and have to marry her. They'll yell. And worse, the fact that she slept with me before marriage will make them frown on her. I'd rather not have to do that."

"I can see where you're coming from."

"Look, Glinda, I'm going to do my best this summer to talk my parents into some sort of agreement so they'll let go of that tradition, and I'm going to do it for her. Because I want her – and only her. If I were to get through that obstacle, though, would she even consider being with me?"

"I think she'd want to. However, I'm not so sure that she would let herself. She does care for you, that much I can tell. But Elphie is a stubborn one, and I don't think she's used to getting any affection at all, and it might unnerve her, to say the least. I can tell you, though, that she does _want_ to be with you. Whether or not she would isn't something I can tell you for sure."

"Thank you. I guess that's about all I can ask that'll do me any good at this point. You go back in. I'll make my inconspicuous entry in a minute or two."

As they all said their goodbyes (most of them for the whole summer), everyone hugged one another. When Fiyero hugged Glinda, he mumbled a quick, "thank you," and she responded with, "just don't hurt her". Elphaba, of course, looked like she wanted to shrink into a corner, not used to getting hugs and kind things (she'd have to get used to that, because he would always do kind things for her). He looked at her and she had to look at him. Their hug felt too short. "I love you," he whispered, pressing the note into her hand. "Open this when you get back to your dorm." And then she pulled away gently, allowing herself to give him a small, regretful smile.

When the time came, he made a quick stop and got to the park a little before eleven. She was walking; he could hear her footsteps, though it was too dark to see her yet. When she saw him, her gaze was drawn to and drifted along the diamonds.

"Elphie…"

"No. You don't need to say anything. I understand that there's no way you can be with me – if you even wanted to, that is. Just forget about last night. It's all right. I'll be fine."

"That's not what I wanted to say, Elphaba. When I go home, I'm going to spend all summer trying to convince my parents to relent and let me dispose of that old tradition. For all I know, they might actually listen…"

"Stop. Fiyero, you don't have to feel obligated to love me just because we got drunk and ended up having sex, or making love, if you'd rather say it that way. Things happen. Don't make yourself do something you don't want to."

"I already have to do something I don't want to," he said, looking down at her. "And that would be leaving here and not seeing you for three long months starting tomorrow afternoon." He kissed her and she didn't pull away. "I love you. Don't fall in love with anyone else over the summer, okay?"

"Fiyero, this is ridiculous. It won't…"

"We aren't talking about that now. I'll write to you, too. Are you staying here or going home?"

"I'm staying."

"Look for a letter every once in a while, then. And about last night, I know what happened between us frightened you a little."

"It's not that it…"

"Shhh. I understand. We'd better get back. Let me walk you to your dorm." He took her hand and walked with her until they could walk no further together. Then, he took her into his arms and kissed her, and she tentatively kissed him back. After breaking the kiss, he said, "I love you, my sweet Elphaba. Goodnight." And he began to walk away.

But he heard Elphaba whisper after him, "Goodnight, Prince Charming."

He turned around, gave her a smile and headed back.

During the three months of summer, he found he was unable to keep his mind off of her. He found himself wanting badly to be near her again, to touch her again, by the first day. How in Oz was he going to survive this sort of longing if he couldn't be with her?


	2. Chapter 2: Sweet Dreams

Chapter Two: Sweet Dreams 

Three months later, he was sneaking into Elphaba's dorm room; she was out, but Glinda had. "Oh! Glinda, sorry. I just meant to leave something for…"

Glinda was organizing her socks by shades of pink. "Go ahead. I'm assuming things with your parents went well?"

He only shrugged and started to leave. "I left a note. I'm going. She knows where to find me once she gets back." He left the building. Elphaba would get back around ten, or at least that was her estimate in her last letter. He'd left her a note to meet him at the Suicide Canal at eleven, an hour before they were all supposed to meet there for lunch. With nothing better to do, he headed over. For a half an hour, he simply threw rocks and watched the bounce across the water of the canal.

The sound of grass beneath feet came to his ears and he stood up and turned around. For a moment, all he could do was look at her: a vision of green in a long, flowing black dress that fit her figure perfectly, and her hair hanging loose across her face.

"Hello would be nice, Fiyero."

"I'd like to say a lot more than just hello. I love you." He hugged her and held her close. She was silent for a few minutes, her eyes closed for a moment.

After a while, she pulled away and said, "So…"

"So." He touched her cheek softly. "I have good news. My family agreed to get rid of the tradition," he informed her, loving the way her eyes lit up, even though she blinked them out again, "so all is well."

"I thought…" She began apprehensively.

"Stop being so hesitant. You always have to find the bad in everything good, Elphie." He grabbed both of her hands.

"What happened to the girl/woman who was supposed to marry you?"

"She married my brother. He's only a year younger." Fiyero shrugged. "You haven't even smiled yet, Elphie."

"It's just… there's always a price to everything."

"Not for me. And now not for you. I'm not going to treat the way you deserve to be treated."

She laughed lightly. "Fiyero?"

"Mmmm?"

"Are you sure you want to be with _me_?"

"Why in Oz wouldn't I be?"

"Because maybe you're, I don't know, insane and out of your mind? Delusional? Partially blind?"

"How about in love?"

"Love does make you blind."

"Elphie, hush."

"But I don't deserve you."

"You're right. You deserve better."

"Stop that, Fiyero."

"I love you, you know."

"I just don't understand why." Elphaba sighed and sat down. "How can you love _me_? What is there to love?"

He sat down next to her and put his arm around her. "There's almost too much to love, Elphie. But I can't explain why I love you. I do, though. I promise that I'm not lying. Please don't doubt me."

"But, before… we were nothing to each other and then we ended up in bed and _now_ you love me?"

"We were certainly more than nothing to each other before. Friendship is something. And I've always had this nagging curiosity about you. I've always yearned to touch you. I just thought you'd push me away."

"And I should've. You should have someone different. Someone beautiful."

"Don't start with that."

"Anyhow, I wouldn't have pushed _you _away." She reached up and touched his face lightly. "Not you."

He kissed her cheek. "I had better bring this up now, before I forget. You're not going to like this. My family told me that the tradition is only eliminated as long as they approve of the woman I choose before I even ask her for a date. I was wondering if you'd come home with me during the winter holidays…"

"To Kiamo Ko?"

"Yes. I know it's a little awkward, but they'd like to meet you."

"What if they end up hating me?"

"Relax, they won't hate you as long as you don't hate them. They're very accepting people. So, will you come or not?"

"My father wouldn't let me, but my father doesn't need to know. But Nanny and Nessa will be staying here and they'll need to know. Perhaps I can convince Nanny not to tell my father. If I can accomplish that much, then yes."

He hugged her. "Great. We'll discuss details when the time is closer." There was a look in her eyes that seemed almost out of place. "Elphaba, what is it?"

"You." She said, almost a whisper. "Oz only knows just how wonderful you are."

"Elphie…" He kissed her passionately. She kissed him back energetically and wrapped her arms around his neck. But after a moment, she pulled away.

"Shit. Boq, Avaric, Crope and Tibbett are coming."

He grabbed her hand forcefully. "Elphie, no. Why are you so afraid that they'll find out about us? It doesn't matter anymore."

She relaxed and he put one arm around her, tickling her with the other, making her giggle. He kissed her forehead and she laid her head on his shoulder, staring at the canal.

"Well, well, two lovers staring out to sea. Better be careful, one of them looks a little seasick." Avaric remarked crudely.

Elphaba shot back immediately. "I don't believe it is seasickness, perhaps it was the sight of your face."

Avaric looked at Fiyero and raised his eyebrows, as if to say: _you're going to let her talk to me like that?_ Fiyero only laughed.

Elphaba stuck her pointed little nose in the air and smirked at Avaric. "Bite me." She muttered.

"I wouldn't want to, I might get rabies."

"No, Avaric, the person who gets bitten gets rabies." Elphaba retorted.

Fiyero laughed again. "No, Avaric, Elphie, please."

Elphaba yielded and rested her head back on Fiyero's shoulder.

Avaric was baffled. "When did this happen?"

Fiyero replied, "When you weren't paying any attention."

"But Fiyero, that could mean just about any time." Elphaba giggled.

Avaric glared at her and Elphaba stuck out her tongue and then stuck her nose in the air.

"Elphie," Fiyero said, turning her chin to face him, "hush up." He sealed her lips with a short kiss.

Avaric grimaced. "Can you two stop or have your little love-fest somewhere else? I was about to eat."

Elphaba gave Fiyero a look and said, "He's right." He would later figure out that Elphaba found being with their circle of friends and being with him slightly uncomfortable and would rather not show much affection when they were all around.

Nessa, Glinda and Nanny came walking up. Glinda was the only one who didn't looked shocked to see Fiyero holding Elphaba's hand (though, had they been a little earlier, they would've been even more shocked).

Nessa blinked and shook her head. "Elphaba why…? What's going on?"

Elphaba laughed. "Nothing. Well, Fiyero and I…"

"Are together?" Glinda supplied.

Elphaba nodded. "You could put it that way." She smiled at Fiyero.

Avaric had one more comment in store, of course. "It looks like Fiyero has tamed The Beast."

That was it. Elphaba snapped and hissed at Avaric. Fiyero squeezed her hand to remind her to calm down and he said, "Shut it, Avaric."

Classes began and everyone settled into the school routine quickly. Twice a week, the group of friends got together and ate dinner at the café. They'd become regulars there; they even had their "usual"s.

"So, who's up for a show tonight? There's a great play down at the Ozian. Who's up for it?" Boq suggested, putting down his fork.

"Sounds all right with me." Avaric replied. Not waiting for anyone else's answer, he got up. "Let's go."

They all headed to the theatre and sat down. Fiyero made sure to sit next to Elphaba, who wouldn't sit near him at dinner because she didn't like mixing the entire group in with their relationship. Since it was dark and there would be no talking, of course, she allowed it. Boq sat on her other side, between her and Glinda.

Fiyero held Elphaba's hand and she subtly leaned her head on his shoulder. He smiled to himself and watched the play.

During intermission, Fiyero realized that Boq and not Glinda was next to Elphaba. Ignoring it, he turned to Elphaba, still holding her hand between the seats, though her head was no longer resting on his shoulder. "How are you liking the show, Elphie?"

She shrugged. "It's all right. I…" she lowered her voice, "would rather be here with just you, though. I love everyone, honestly, I do, but I can't be 'with you' when we're all together. You know what I mean?"

He nodded and squeezed her hand. "The winter holidays are coming up, soon. We'll have time to ourselves then. Have you spoken with your Nanny?"

"A little. I haven't directly told her, but she gets the hint. She seems to be fine. But Fiyero, you know nothing like what happened before is happening until things are more… _definite_."

"I didn't expect it to."

"And no getting me drunk." She laughed.

He saw that Boq was listening to them and he didn't like the look on Boq's face. Looking back into Elphaba's eyes, he made note to talk to Boq later. "I wouldn't. You know that, my sweet Elphie."

Her cheeks reddened. She became embarrassed when he talked to her that way around "the group". "Thank you." The lights flickered. "The second act is about to start. I hope it's not as long as the first act, it's getting late and I'm tired." She closed her eyes and almost fell asleep on Fiyero's shoulder.

When the play ended, everyone headed back to their dorms. Fiyero held Elphaba back and asked her to walk around the park once. "I just wanted to take a quick walk _alone _with you." He told her.

"All right," she said and allowed him to slide his hand around her waist, keeping her close to him as they walked.

"So, what's been going on lately? Anything new?"

"Not very much. My father wrote to my sister and I and told us that our grandfather is getting sicker. He said he expects me to come home during the spring holidays. But…" She trailed off.

"What?"

"I'm to accept the position of Eminent Thropp. Fiyero, I don't know how long or if we're going to last, but - "

"Elphaba, have I not told you that I love you? We will last." He stopped her for a moment and kissed her.

She looked up at him. "Good." Arms around his neck, she kissed him and when they pulled away she was almost breathless. "As I was saying before you so rudely interrupted me," she teased, beginning to walk again, "It's a family duty to be Eminent Thropp, but I'd have to stay in Munchkinland the rest of my life. And that wouldn't be good, seeing as you have to stay in the Vinkus for the rest of your life."

He would not lose her over this. "I see we both come from somewhat privileged backgrounds. Is there a way out of it?"

"There might be. I don't know what I'm going to do." She sighed. They'd circled the park. "Well, I guess we had better get going back to our dorms. I'll see you in class tomorrow?"

"Yes. And the winter holidays are in two weeks, Elphie, so do try and convince your Nanny to let you come with me. I love you." He hugged her.

She hugged him back and made to turn around and head back to her dorm but stopped herself. "Oh, hell. I can't help it." And her lips were against his again, allowing a deep, passionate kiss. "Sweet Oz, the way I want you sometimes, it's wrong and it's bad but it's so terribly strong. It's sinful, but I don't care. I know I won't let it go too far again, but you have no idea…"

"Oh, believe me, I have an idea." He smiled. "And I won't push you too far. We have time."

"Yes we do." Her eyes almost glowed in the moonlight.

"After graduation, if all goes well over the holidays, Elphie…"

"Shhh." She put a finger to his lips. "Now is not the time. Wait until we know more. Don't talk about such things now. Good night, my Prince Charming." Then she turned and walked away, turning back to wave goodbye, but no more.

Elphaba eventually brought up the subject of the winter holidays to Nanny. She made sure to do it when Nessa was out of the room, too. "Um, Nanny?"

"Shhh. Nessa is trying to sleep and her door is open."

Elphaba shut the door. "Sorry. But, Nanny, about the winter holidays…"

"We'll be staying here. Your Nanny is in no condition to go home and return again only four weeks later."

Sighing, she said, "I know that. But do _I _have to stay here?"

"You want to go home?"

"Not home, exactly." She noticed Glinda look up from her mirror.

Nanny raised her eyebrows.

"Fiyero asked me to visit his family for the winter holidays."

Glinda squealed. Nanny replied with, "Ooh, I see. I don't know. You _are_ your mother's daughter after all…."

"Nanny, please. You know I don't do things like that!" Elphaba shot Glinda a look. "He really wants me to go with him. Please, Nanny?"

"You're a clever girl, not asking your father."

Elphaba couldn't help but smirk at that.

"Ha! I knew it."

Elphaba nodded. "You know how he is. So, can I?"

"As long as you don't come back pregnant, go ahead."

"I can promise you that I won't do that." She wouldn't let anything happen that could come close to going "too far"; it made her uncomfortable just thinking about it anyway.

The trip to the Vinkus was about three and a half days by train. They slept in a two-person compartment in which the beds could be pushed together and be perfectly comfortable without even noticing they weren't the same bed or one could sleep solo. After Elphaba shivered so much when they'd slept separate the first night, Fiyero insisted that they push the two together, telling her she'd get sick otherwise.

"But Fiyero…"

"We'll both be in our nightclothes, it'll be fine. I promise."

She shook her head but went along with it. Once she'd climbed into bed, he took her in his arms and held her close. Her shivering eased up, but he woke in the middle of the night to feel her shivering against him.

"Elphie? Elphie, wake up."

"What?" Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled when she saw him. He loved that smile.

"Are you feeling all right? You're still shivering a bit. I don't want you getting sick."

She snuggled closer to him. "I'm fine. We only have one more night after this and then half a day, right?"

"Right. Go back to sleep. I love you. Goodnight."

"'Night."

On the morning of the day they were to arrive, Elphaba got jumpy. "They're going to take one look at me and think you're insane for loving a freak." She told Fiyero.

"They will not."

"Whatever. I might as well find something that makes me look… well, acceptable. Leave the compartment or turn away."

He turned away and talked to her over his shoulder until she told him to turn around again. She was still buttoning her blouse and zipping up her skirt and he said, "As usual, my Elphie, you look beautiful."

Dusting herself off, she said, "I'm just barely completely dressed yet and you _still_ say that?"

"The less you're wearing, the more beautiful you are."

"Ha! You don't even remember what I look like naked."

"I can imagine." He grinned.

"Fiyero!" She hit him playfully.

"Well, I meant it."

When they arrived at Kiamo Ko, Fiyero watched Elphaba to see how she was feeling. But his Elphie's face was unreadable. As they approached the front of the castle, he took her hand. "Ready?"

She laughed. "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be? It's not as if this is a big deal or anything." Her sarcasm was hard to miss.

He squeezed her hand. "It'll be fine."

"Whatever you say." She kissed him on the cheek.

He reached to open the door, smiling at Elphaba. "Come in."

Elphaba smiled back and stepped inside. People were already gathered at the door; one of the servants had announced their arrival.

"Fiyero!" A woman who Elphaba assumed to be Fiyero's mother ran to Fiyero and hugged him, kissing him on both cheeks. "We've missed you so much."

"I've missed you, too, mom." Fiyero hugged his mother. "Introduction time. Mom, this is Elphaba." He gestured to Elphaba, who, at this point, was trying to seem as unnoticeable as possible.

"So you're the one who my son is absolutely in love with, are you? It's nice to meet you. Oh! I've forgotten my manners, please, please, come in and sit down."

Elphaba followed Fiyero and his mother into a room with several luxurious and commodious chairs and couches. She sat down next to Fiyero on a couch that seemed to be made of leather. Just as they were sitting down, two boys and a little girl came running in with the maid. The little girl jumped into Fiyero's lap and said "Fiyewo". She hadn't corrected the pronunciation of her "r"s yet. The two boys, who looked like younger, less mature versions of Fiyero looked no more than a year younger, but much different. One was a year older than the elder, she could tell, and they sat down on chairs opposite where Fiyero and Elphaba were sitting.

Fiyero laughed at his little sister. "Hi there, sis. How has my Lali been while I've been gone?"

"Good." Lali hugged Fiyero and then sat herself comfortably in her oldest brother's lap.

Fiyero looked to his two brothers. "Hey guys."

"Good to see you, bro."

"Yeah, what he said."

Again, Fiyero laughed and then turned to Elphaba. "Elphaba, this is my little sister Lali, and those two are my brothers, Gondeko and Sidrio."

The two boys nodded their heads in acknowledgement.

"And all of you, this is Elphaba."

"El-FAE-ba," Lali tried to pronounce Elphaba's name.

"El-fa-ba." Fiyero corrected her.

"El-FAE-ba."

Elphaba cut Fiyero off before he tried to correct his little sister again. "It's all right, I don't mind." She turned to the little girl. "Hi Lali."

"Hi. I like your skin. It's cool."

Elphaba laughed good-naturedly. "Thank you. Your skin is very cool, too."

Everyone laughed, though it was a little strained and Fiyero's mother said, "I'm sorry, she didn't mean to be rude in pointing that out…"

"It's nothing." Elphaba waved it away. "She's adorable."

"Most of the time, anyway." Fiyero's mother smiled. "You must be hungry after all of that traveling. Fiyero, why don't you show her the guest room and I'll start making dinner?"

"Sure, mom." Fiyero led Elphaba upstairs into a room near the highest tower. "Put your things wherever you want. My room is right down the hall on the left, in case you need me for something. This isn't the only guest room in the house, but it was the closest to my room, so… yeah." He paused. "I'm sorry about what my sister said earlier. I know you didn't want to say anything in front of my mother, but…"

"No. It's fine, really. I'd rather her acknowledge it than ignore it and treat me differently. That's the good thing about little kids. They're honest. And your mother seems very sweet." Elphaba put her bags on a chair.

"I feel a little relieved now."

"Me too." She sat down on the bed.

He said next to her. "Good."

She leaned against him and said, "It wasn't as bad as I thought."

"I told you so." He kissed her.

She kissed him back, melting into him and allowing their bodies to fall back onto the bed. His hand crept up her blouse and he unbuttoned it carefully. He ran his hand over her breasts as he kissed her. She clutched at his shoulders, letting him slide his tongue into her mouth. He kissed his way down her neck and she sighed, a small whimper escaping from her throat.

There was a noise at the door and the two of them pulled away from one another. Fiyero's brother, Gondeko, laughed. "Looks like you two wanted dessert before dinner."

"Gondeko!" Fiyero snapped, aggravated and embarrassed. "Get out of here."

"Mom told me to tell you that dinner is ready."

"All right. We'll be down in a minute. Not a word." Fiyero gave his brother a look and Gondeko ran down the stairs. He turned to Elphaba, who was hastily buttoning her blouse back up, her cheeks scarlet. "I'm so sorry about that."

She finished with her blouse and her hands went to her hair, hurriedly combing her fingers through it. "Let's go downstairs."

He shook his head at her reaction and took her hand, heading downstairs. "It's going to be very difficult for me not to want to sneak into your room at night," he muttered.

"You're welcome to sneak in, just don't expect sex." She replied.

"I know that."

The dinner conversation was calm and uneventful except for one thing, which Elphaba was only able to pick up from conversation. Fiyero's father was dying. He'd never told her this, which worried her. She wondered why he'd neglected to tell her something that loomed largely in his life.

That night, Fiyero snuck into her room and they sat and talked for some time. Elphaba couldn't help staring at Fiyero (who slept without a shirt); the blue diamonds, though beautiful, were very distracting. Somehow, she managed to resist falling into him when he kissed her. Instead she pulled away, but kindly, and said, "I didn't know your father was dying."

"Dad has been dying for years now." He shrugged it off.

"You never said anything." She said, turning away from his kiss.

"You're right. I'm just so used to the fact that I guess I forget that not everyone knows." He sighed.

"Are you sad about it?"

"Elphie, do we have to have this conversation?"

"Yes."

"Then, yes, of course I'm sad, but it's going to happen and I can deal with that."

"You'll have to take over once he dies, won't you?"

Fiyero nodded. "It's a little scary."

"I know. Don't forget, lucky me, I'm the Thropp Third Descending."

"How is your grandfather, by the way?"

"I have no idea. If anything happens or improves, my father would write to Nanny, who is pretending to be ignorant of the fact that I am here."

"But you know, it is scary, though."

She laid her head against him and murmured, "You'll be fine. It won't be so bad."

"You're right. It won't be so bad as long as I've got you."

"Sweet talking me isn't going to get me to have sex with you."

"As if I didn't know. Elphaba, as much as you have trouble believing it, I love you for reasons other than sex." He put an arm around her and kissed her forehead. "Now, goodnight. I had better get back to my room. I love you and sweet dreams, my Elphie."

She smiled as he closed the door and she curled up in the bed, and sweet dreams she had indeed.

When she awoke, it was to a knock on the door. Fiyero said, "Gondeko just came up, breakfast is ready." She yawned and kicked Fiyero out of the room so she could get dressed. When she exited her room, he kissed her, smiling softly.

"Sleep well?"

"You would know. I was up way past midnight."

"Oh, I wish I could know so much more than that."

"Not funny."

"Sorry, love."

She shrugged and went downstairs.

And so their trip was uneventful except for Lurlinemas, which is always different than most days. Fiyero had to sneak into her room, but not to wake her.

However, she did wake up. She sat up in bed and looked at him. "What's going…?"

"Shhh. It's just me."

"Fiyero, what are you doing?"

He was only a form in the darkness. "Uh… happy Lurlinemas?"

She laughed. "Fiyero, what are you up to?"

"I'm leaving you your Lurlinemas present." He leaned over the bed and kissed her forehead.

"No. I don't want anything. Don't give me anything. Please."

"Too late."

"But…"

"Hush, my sweet Elphie." He knelt by the bed and touched her cheek lightly. "I love you." He got up to go back to his room.

"Don't leave." She sat up. "Stay in here."

He sat at the chair near the bed and she slid her hand into his. Gracefully, he kissed her hand and she giggled. "What?"

"I feel like a goddess, the way you treat me sometimes."

"Good. That is my goal." He kissed her hand again.

"I'm not used to this at all."

"Well, you better get used to it. Go to sleep. I'll be right here."

"Even in the morning?" She kidded.

"Even in the morning."

In the morning, he was still on the chair, asleep. She smiled and watched the sunlight slowly fill the room. After some time, Fiyero opened his eyes and looked at her. "Happy Lurlinemas."

"You too." She replied, but didn't get up.

Lightly, he pulled her hair out of her face. "Come on, it's Lurlinemas. Get up."

"Fine, fine. If you insist." She stretched and stood up. "Get out and go get dressed. I'll meet you in the hallway in a minute." After he'd left the room and she'd gotten dressed in her day clothes, she wandered over to the desk, where he'd left his gift for her. It was in a small, shiny green box. He knocked on the door.

"Elphie? Are you decent?"

"Yes."

He opened the door and took a step into the room, shutting it behind him. "Unwrap your present."

She did as she was told and gasped, almost dropping it. "Oh, no, Fiyero, I can't possibly accept this."

"Yes you can. It'll look beautiful on you."

"It looks beautiful without me. I won't accept this. Take it." She thrust it at him, holding it far away from herself.

"For Oz's sake, Elphie, it's just a bracelet."

"Just a bracelet?" She stammered. "I… I can't. It's too… too…"

"Stop it. You forget that I'm a prince. It's not that big a deal to me."

"It is to me. It's gorgeous, Fiyero, it is. The emeralds and all… but I can't take it."

He took it from her, but held her arm out, closing the clasp around her wrist. "You can and you will." Tilting her chin up with his hand, he kissed her.

She kissed him back and mumbled. "I didn't even think about the holiday, Fiyero. I have nothing to give you…"

"Just let me hold you, that's all I want." He hugged her tight and then caught her eyes again. "I love you."

She nuzzled her head into his shoulder softly and murmured, "I wish you could see how wonderful you are."

"No. You need to see how beautiful you are. Then we'll be even."


	3. Chapter 3: Make Up Your Mind

Chapter Three: Make Up Your Mind 

On the ride back, as she gazed into space, he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Sometimes I have trouble believing that I'm here and that you're so close to me."

"Don't. Always believe it, because I am right here, and so are you." They stared out the window at the snow. She rested her head on his shoulder. "My mom liked you, you know."

"That's a relief."

Silence for a while. "Fae?"

"What'd you say?"

"Fae. Like the way my sister mispronounced your name."

"Fae." She repeated it. "I think I like that. It's nice. What were you saying?"

"You know I'll always love you, right?"

"I guess."

"There's no guessing about it. None at all. Anything you want, whatever you want, if I can make it yours, I will. I want to give you everything."

"I don't want everything, Yero my hero. I just want you."

He kissed her neck and rocked her to sleep. "I will always love you. Always."

A few days before classes resumed, Boq knocked softly on the door of Fiyero's dorm room. Fiyero was a bit shocked to see him, since he didn't normally talk much with Fiyero when they weren't in a large group, but he opened the door and invited Boq to sit down. "So, how was your break?"

"Boring. I stayed here, bored myself to death, you know, the usual. How was yours? Elphaba went home with you, didn't she?"

He thought he knew where this was going, but he had no idea why it was going that way, so he continued the conversation. "Yes, she did. Break was all right. Nothing very eventful."

"I'm sure. Were you glad to have Elphie all to yourself for such a long time?"

Fiyero looked at Boq curiously. "Well, it was nice to be able to talk with her without having to talk to three or four other people at the same time."

"As if all you did was talk."

"Boq, what are you trying to say?"

"I know that you two do more than talk."

"Is there anything wrong with kissing her, Boq? I _do_ love her, after all."

"Of course not. I'm sorry. Please, forgive me. Anyway, did you two have a good time? Did you get her drunk or fuck her again?"

"How did you…?" Then he remembered that Boq had overheard his and Elphaba's conversation in the theatre and it wasn't hard to interpret. "Boq, you don't understand. We got drunk one night last year and we ended up sleeping together. It happened _once_. I regret it and so does she, and we've agreed it won't happen again. And it hasn't happened again. I wouldn't do that to her. I respect her and I love her. I would never mistreat her that way."

"Right. I'm sure you're both to blame equally, right? Did she ask you to fuck her? Did she get _you_ drunk? That's not what happened and we both know it. You took advantage of her and for some reason, she cares for you regardless of what you've done to her."

It hit Fiyero right then what was going on. "Oh, no, not in Oz… you like her, don't you?"

Boq was silent.

"Boq, I'm sorry. But you have to understand that I can't just ignore the way I feel about her…"

"You can ignore your lust for her, though."

"It isn't my fault that she feels the same way about me."

"It isn't right. She's known me much longer than you and I wouldn't do to her what you did."

"She's still your friend. Look, please, don't hate me for what happened between Elphaba and I. There's nothing anyone can do about it now. And if I were to ignore the way I feel about her, think of how that would hurt her. You don't want to see her hurt, even if you dislike the fact that she's with me."

Boq stood up and walked towards the door. "You're right. I don't want to see her get hurt, which is why I don't want to see her with you. But strangely, she seems happy with you. But if there is any way I can find to show her what you're doing to her and what I would never do, believe me, I will." He left the room.

Fiyero stared at the door and then laid back on the bed. He climbed, fully clothed, beneath the blanket, trying to smell and feel a trace of Elphaba. Before anything else, he noticed the small drop of blood that had stained the sheet that night so long ago. This caused guilt to creep up on him. She'd been virginal, as had he, and yet he'd taken that from her. It was dirty, sick and wrong. Self-hatred floated over him in waves and he shook his head, keeping his hand over the bloodstain, thinking of Elphie, thinking of everything that had happened since that night the year before. What if, somehow, things went wrong? What if his precious plans for he and Elphaba after graduation ended up failing miserably?

It wasn't that he was afraid of Boq; he was really harmless. But Elphaba did have every right to blame Fiyero for what happened and suddenly change her mind about how she felt about him. He _had_ begun everything, after all. He'd gotten her drunk. He'd kissed her first. He'd pulled off her dress long before she'd begun undressing him. He didn't even know how he knew all of this, for he didn't remember it. But he was sure now that it was true, every word of it. Feeling pathetic and sinful, he closed his eyes and fell asleep, setting his alarm so that he'd wake for dinner at the café.

At the café, neither Elphaba nor Fiyero had any idea how crazy they were driving one another. Fiyero was bothered, seeing Elphaba sitting next to Boq and Glinda; and he also noted that she wasn't wearing the bracelet of emeralds that he'd given her (he didn't know it was because she was afraid of losing it). Elphaba knew something was wrong because Fiyero, who usually had no problem staring at her or looking her in the eye and smiling, out of a sudden wave of guilt, would not meet her eyes and would avert her glance if possible.

Elphaba spent most of her time chatting with Boq about Munchkinland. Fiyero listened from across the table. She _had _known Boq much longer. They had more in common. Boq never would've taken her virginity when she wasn't thinking clearly.

Fiyero was unusually quiet. Elphaba was watching him out of the corner of her eyes as she pretended to listen to Boq. Why wasn't he looking at her? Had he finally realized that he deserved better? Had he finally realized who she was compared to who he was and decided that it wouldn't work?

After dinner, Avaric suggested the Philosophy Club. Elphaba, bothered by Fiyero's change in manner and hoping she'd have an excuse to find time alone with him, actually agreed. Fiyero, who figured he'd been sinful already, so it couldn't hurt to keep doing so, decided on going, too.

Inside, people were dancing to loud, screechy music and groping at each other. Without any other ideas, Elphaba grabbed Fiyero's hand and dragged him to a corner. "If you've had enough of me, you can just say so." She put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot, hurt and angry.

He looked at the ground. "That's not it. I love you, I do."

"Then what is going on?"

"It's a long story."

"Well, we're going to talk about it and I don't care where. If we can sneak out of here without any of our crowd seeing us, then we can go somewhere and talk. Come on." She looked at him with love and concern in her eyes and he knew he didn't deserve her. Without another word, she pulled him out of the club and walked down the streets. "It's cold. We need to go somewhere, inside anywhere. And somewhere not public." She glanced around the streets. "Oh, you're not going to like this, but it suits what we need. This is going to be dreadfully embarrassing, though."

He gave her a curious glance. "What?"

She pointed down the street to a mediocre looking hotel. "Shit. How much money do I…?" She let go of his hand and began rummaging in the pocket of her cloak.

"No. You're forgetting again that I'm a prince, Elphie. I don't even need money. Watch this."

The two of them stepped into the lobby and Elphaba immediately slunk into the shadows. Fiyero walked up to the front desk, said a few things and turned back to Elphaba holding a key. He gestured to Elphaba to follow him and they walked silently up two flights of stairs and through a hallway before reaching the room. He unlocked it and held the door open for her.

It was a _nice_ room. The bed looked more than comfortable, but Elphaba decided to sit on the couch. She thought that sitting on the bed might not go so well. She motioned for him to sit next to her and he did. Afraid of the answer, she asked, "What's wrong?"

Without looking at her, he said, "We shouldn't be together anymore."

Keeping her calm as best as she could, she asked, "Why?"

"Look at the way I've treated you, Elphaba."

"I don't see anything wrong about it."

"I haven't treated you the best that I could've."

"I still don't see it."

"Elphaba, I got you drunk and then had sex with you. I shouldn't have taken advantage of you like that."

"I thought we were past this." She buried her face in her hands.

"You deserve someone who isn't going to treat you like that. You deserve someone who will keep you sober and never let things get out of control. Like Boq."

"What does Boq have to do with any of this?"

He explained his and Boq's confrontation earlier. "And he's right. You didn't ask me to do what I did."

"I don't think you necessarily asked me to let you do what you did, but I did anyway. I _let_ you, Fiyero."

"Only because I got you drunk."

"As if I didn't know what I was doing when I agreed to have a drink with you, Fiyero. I'd had the biggest crush on you since the day you walked into life sciences. I wouldn't have gone out for a drink with just anyone, you know."

"I don't think you planned on sleeping with me, though."

"You're right. I didn't."

"Elphaba, just walk away. Leave the room right now before this becomes too much. I can't keep looking at you."

Forcefully, she said, "Look at me. Look me in the eyes, Fiyero. We don't even remember it. It doesn't matter. It's better this way, you know. If we do ever… do it… again, it'll be new and special to our minds, though the awkwardness will be gone already. That's the only difference."

"Elphaba, please, get out."

She could feel tears threatening at her eyes. "Fine. But just so you know, you wanted to not hurt me so much, and staying with you would've hurt a lot less than what you're doing to me… and yourself." Without crying, she got up and walked to the door.

Her hand was on the doorknob when he grabbed her other wrist. "No. Wait. What am I thinking?"

She replied, "I don't know what you're thinking. I wish I knew." She moved to turn away and leave the room again.

"Elphie, no. I'm sorry for telling you to leave. I just can't hurt you anymore."

"Then make up your mind, Fiyero." There was now anger in her tone along with the original confusion and pain. "Because I am done standing here waiting for you to decide. If you're so unsure, maybe it's best if I do leave." She turned around and slammed the door, silently sinking down in the hallway taking in long, deep breaths.

He blinked and turned towards the window, waiting to see her leave the building, hoping to call out to her. But he heard her sad sighs in the hall, as much as she tried to hide it. Trying not to alarm her, he opened the door and knelt beside her. "Elphie…"

"Go back into your room, Fiyero. I'll be fine in a minute and then I'll leave. I'm sorry if this is bothering you."

He scooped her up into his arms and carried her back inside, noting, as he closed the door with his foot, that she wasn't protesting. Gently, he set her down on the couch and went to look through the mini-bar for something, anything. He found some juice and rummaged through a cabinet for a glass. She shook her head, but said nothing, submissive and weak.

After a while, she seemed to get better and he handed her some juice. She took it without speaking. When she finished, she put down the glass and said, "Thank you for making sure I didn't break down. I'm fine now. I'll be going."

"No, don't go. I love you."

"Then why did you ask me to leave?"

"I don't know if being with me hurts you more or less than not. Tell me what you'd rather have."

"I'd rather have you." She said quietly. "But not if you want something else."

"Oh, Fae, I don't want anything but for you to be happy."

She stood up. "I'm sorry if I made you feel like what happened last year was all your fault."

He took her hands in his. "You didn't."

Yawning, she began to swoon a little. He reached to catch her and she mumbled, "I'm good."

"Maybe you should lie down." He moved towards the bed.

"I think I will. But don't we have to get back to our dorms? We have school tomorrow, don't we?"

"Fae, it's Saturday."

"We can just stay here?"

"If you'd like."

"I'd like to sleep. I don't care where."

"Then sleep."

She curled up on the bed and closed her eyes. Shivering, she mumbled, "Hold me."

He grinned and climbed onto the bed next to her, holding her close. She smiled a little and buried her face in his shirt. Fully clothed, they fell asleep. Later in the night, their friends would wonder and worry about where they were. Well, except Glinda, who knew that, wherever they were, they were fine.

The smell of his shirt soothed her. She knew where she was when she woke up without even needing to look around. But she didn't want to move much, content to lie next to him as long as the world turned. Their fight the night before was gone. All that existed between them was warmth and love as they kept one another close. He woke at noon and smiled when he remembered that she was beside him. "Good morning, my sweet Elphie."

"Good morning, Yero." She stretched and looked around. "Mmmm. We'd better be getting back to Shiz before we're missed."

"Let me just steal one little kiss." He kissed her brightly. "Okay, now we can get going."

"Oh, Yero, you look like a mess."

"You don't exactly look like you've just stepped out of a beauty salon, either, my love."

She laughed, got up and went to a mirror, mercilessly trying to fix her hair. "Damn." After a minute, she gave up. "So, shall we get going, then?"

"Yes. You know, Fae, I think something or someone out there wanted to get us into a fight, but it's only made me love you more, if that's possible. And I see how useless that was, arguing like that. Why should I try and do something to make you happy when you tell me flat out that it's upsetting you?" He kissed Elphaba again and then they walked hand in hand out of the hotel. "One more thing. Last night, when I told you to leave, it wasn't because I didn't love you. Boq had me convinced that I was doing you more harm than good and I didn't want to do that."

"I know."

"I love you."


	4. Chapter 4: Lullaby

Chapter Four: Lullaby 

Back in her dorm room, an unsurprised Glinda and a very angry Nanny greeted Elphaba.

Um… I can explain?"

"Go ahead." Nanny said, aggravated.

"Fiyero and I got into a fight last night and we wanted to go somewhere private to talk and the only place that wasn't really public was a hotel room. It wasn't the easiest thing to resolve. It wasn't until very, very late that we made up and by then we were so tired that we just fell asleep."

"In the same bed, I'm sure."

"Well… yes."

Nanny grumbled. "Why do they all turn out like this?"

"We fell asleep on the same bed _fully clothed_, Nanny. I am not like that."

"The only way there is to prove that much is for you to find some way to prove that you're still a virgin."

Elphaba looked at Glinda and Glinda gave her a look that said, "I wish I could help…". "And how am I supposed to do that?"

"I don't want to have to do this, but it looks like I have to. There's a good, quiet doctor around here somewhere. There's a way to tell, you know, by looking."

"No."

"Would you just cooperate?"

Elphaba shook her head violently.

"You're not a virgin, are you?"

Tears were threatening to start streaming down her cheeks as she shook her head again.

"Your mother's daughter." Nanny stood, disappointed.

"You don't understand. It only happened once. We were drunk. But we didn't do it last night, honest." She got rid of the tears before they even neared her cheeks.

"How am I supposed to believe you when you come sneaking in here at one in the afternoon having been off all night doing Oz only knows what with that boy. Damn it. I tried so hard to make sure that you wouldn't turn out like your mother…"

Elphaba backed away and got closer to Glinda. "Please, Nanny. Don't say that. I am nothing like my mother."

"I don't want you seeing him unless it is within the borders of your circle of friends, am I clear?"

"But, Nanny, no."

"After you graduate, you may do what you want, but you've got half of the year left and I will not let you get pregnant under my watch."

"I won't. Believe me, Nanny. It happened once and it was an accident. We swore to one another that it wouldn't happen again and it hasn't."

"And I suppose you're about to say that you love him? I'm about as sure of that as I am that he loves you."

"He _does_ love me."

"I'm sure he tells you that when he's trying to coax you into bed with him. I'm sure that's what he tells you when you say, 'not tonight' or that you're 'not in the mood'. I doubt either one of you mean what you say."

"I know better than that, Nanny."

"I don't know about that anymore. I don't even want to think about how many times you've thrown yourself away and gone at it with some boy."

"Don't talk about it that way!" But Nanny was already in the other room. Elphaba made an obscene gesture towards the door and sighed.

"Elphie, I'm so sorry. He'll understand, won't he? If it helps any, I could run notes between you two."

She gave Glinda a grateful smile. "I'd like that. Thank you." She scribbled out a note explaining what had just happened and handed it to Glinda. "Can you get this to him without getting in trouble?"

"I can get this to him, wait for him to read it and write a response without getting in trouble." And Glinda left the dorm.

Within an hour she was back, holding a new note.

_Fae, this is my fault. I shouldn't have gotten so upset last night. If I hadn't, we could've gotten back to the dorms on time. Anyways, I love you and no stupid rule is going to change that. I think I can last until graduation with only seeing you in groups. Neither one of us will like it, but we can get through this. Did your grandmother really accuse you of so much? I'm so sorry, Fae. I love you. As usual - Your Prince Charming_

For several months, things went fine. She sat next to him at dinner all of the time and allowed him an arm around the shoulder or a kiss on the cheek occasionally, because it was all they had. They talked mostly to each other at dinner and continued sending notes back and forth through Glinda. There was less than a month left until graduation when Fiyero received devastating news.

_Fae, I'm sorry for not coming with everyone today. It's just… I've just found out that my father has passed away. I'm not going home because if I did I'd miss finals and graduation. I feel very alone tonight, though it's no different, physically, than most others. Know that I'm thinking of you. My only comfort is knowing that I can take you in my arms again soon. I love you, Fae. I miss you – Your Prince Charming_

Worried, Elphaba showed the letter to Glinda. "Look at this." They'd just returned from dinner and the note had somehow made its way under the windowsill. "He has to be alone tonight. I feel awful."

"I know what you're thinking, Elphie. I'm not going to tell you not to, I'm just going to tell you to think about it and decide if this is worth whatever consequences you might get."

"What more can she do to me? There're two weeks until graduation and then I won't be in her control anymore. Glinda, I have to."

"Why?"

"Because he's alone and his father just died. Hello? Someone should be with him right now. _I_ should be with him right now."

Glinda nodded. "Then go. I'll watch out for Nanny until you're out of sight. I can't do any more than that, though."

"That's all I ask." She gave Glinda a appreciative look. "Don't worry if I'm not back until morning."

"Go Elphie."

She snuck down the stairs and into the garden. Quickly, she climbed the fence, glanced up once more to see Glinda looking at her from the window. She waved and ran across several fields until she reached the boys' dormitories. Fiyero was on the first floor, second window to the left.

He opened the window when she knocked and helped her in. "It's so good to see you, Fae." He hugged her. "You didn't have to come here."

"I didn't want you to have to be alone tonight." She kissed him and sat down on the bed. "Are you okay?"

He sighed and sat down next to her. "I don't know."

She kissed him on the cheek and took his hand, wanting to comfort him. "It's terrible, Yero. I'm sorry this happened. I wish I could make everything go away."

"Having you here is more than enough. Are you staying tonight or are you going back to your dorm soon?"

"Whatever you want."

"Stay. I need to hold you; I need to feel you breathe. I need to feel alive."

"Then I'll stay." She crawled across the bed and sat by the headboard. "Do you want to talk about it?"

He stretched out on the bed. "I'm not sure what there is to say. It just makes me wonder about mortality and such."

"Oh, darling, don't go philosophical, it'll give you a headache, believe me."

He laughed.

It felt good to make him laugh, to make him happy. She got up and moved around the room, cleaning things up. "It'll be okay, Fiyero. I promise it will."

"I knew it was going to happen. I should've been prepared for this."

"No, Yero, you're never prepared for something like that. No one can evade that."

"Do you realize, though, that when I return home, that I have to accept the throne and be king? I never thought I'd rule _this_ young."

"You'll have your mother. And I'm sure your brothers wouldn't mind helping you out."

"Yes, I have all of them, but will I have you?"

She froze and looked at him. "What?"

"Come home with me. You don't have to commit to anything. It can be like it was over the winter holidays. You can leave whenever you wish."

"I have to go back to Clowen Grounds for a little while."

"I'll come with and then we can go to Kiamo Ko."

"Are you sure you shouldn't go home immediately after graduation?" She asked, finishing her cleaning.

"It's only a week or two late, no one will mind. Just, please, Fae, come with me?"

"I'll go with you. We'll be at Clowen Grounds for maybe a week, hopefully no more than that. Is that all right?"

"That's fine."

She went to organizing his school things, putting everything where it could be found. His dirty clothes were in a pile near the door. "Fiyero, when was the last time you did the wash?"

"I barely ever have to. With everything I have…"

"Oh, yes, of course. I forget that sometimes." Seeing nothing else to do, she sat back down on the bed.

The wind blew wildly outside and they only then noticed that it was raining. "Well, it's a good thing you decided to stay here. It could've been bad if the rain had started when you were halfway back."

She cuddled close to him. "Yes. That could've been…" There was a flash of light and she screamed. Then there was complete darkness.

He felt her holding close to him and he cradled her in his arms. "Are you all right?"

She sat up. "I'm fine. That was more of a shock than anything else."

He moved to put an arm around her shoulder and accidentally slid his hand over her breast. "I-I'm sorry."

"Yero, it's dark. I know that was an accident. And you're acting like it was something painful to me. It wasn't." The lights went back on and she sighed in relief. "Thank Oz for that."

"I know. I'd rather be able to see you than have no idea where I'm putting my hands."

She giggled. "Oh, Yero my hero, are you feeling any better?"

"I think so. I'm glad you're here, let me say that much."

"And I'm happy to be here, if it makes you happy." She gave him a smile. "Whatever makes you happy is good for me."

"You make me happy." He told her.

She kissed him and let him pin her beneath him on the bed as they held one another. They rolled around on the bed, sharing hungry, passionate kisses. He kissed her neck and sucked lightly, leaving a mark. Play fighting, they continued to tackle each other and climb over one another playfully and innocently. Her pure, soft lips parted when his tongue pushed through and searched for hers.

With skilled hands, he unbuttoned her blouse, helping her out of it and tossing it to the floor. He moved his hands over her breasts in circles and she whimpered even as he kissed her. Her hands were tight at the back of his neck, keeping their lips close together. One of her hands slid down his back and began to remove his shirt softly.

Forgetting to hold back, he tugged recklessly at her skirt. She caught her breath and only then did he remember what the limits were. "Fiyero, I…"

"I didn't mean to do that. I got carried away."

But she could see how he wanted her, and she could feel his desire as his body pressed against hers. He needed her. He needed to hold her, to feel her breathe, to feel _alive_. And all at once she realized that what he really needed, what he'd really meant by the word alive, was to have her altogether. Tonight he'd found out some of the most upsetting news in his life. She didn't want him to be alone, but unless she gave herself up, in a way, he'd still be alone. "No, it's all right. You can do whatever you want. Love me."

She removed her skirt slowly and allowed him to remove the rest of either of their clothing. Closing her eyes, she could feel his hands running over her body, into her body, teasing. Short, heavy breaths came from her throat as he finished undressing her and her body was exposed to the air.

With his hands and his mouth, he explored her body, finding his ways to get closer to her. As reluctant as she'd been to allow this, she'd either convinced herself that it felt good or it really did feel quite pleasurable. She felt her back arch subconsciously as his breath came to her hips, her stomach, her breasts, her neck and finally her mouth again.

She'd wanted it, too. Though she hated admitting it, she wanted him just as much as he wanted her. He was beautiful, his skin soft against hers, his body warm and his mouth tantalizing. Her body ached for his and she allowed him what he –no, wait – what _they_ wanted.

And then they came together, moving slowly, but steadily speeding up. Finally, she allowed herself to open her eyes and he was looking straight at her. The intensity in his eyes frightened her, but she could not look away.

"Yero," she whispered, "I love you."

"I love you, too," he said, moving over her. "Does this feel all right?"

"It feels good." She murmured, tossing her head back.

He nibbled at her neck as they progressed, her nails digging into his shoulders suddenly. She couldn't be pretending _this_. It did feel good, very good. He mumbled something about feeling pressure or release, but she'd lost focus. A rush of pleasure and ecstasy soared through her and she screamed, crying out his name. A second later, two deep moans came from Fiyero and she could feel him join her over the edge.

He kissed her then and lay beside her, stroking her cheek as their breathing returned to normal. Tiredly, she nuzzled against him and he held her.

With a soft kiss to her forehead, he said, "I love you." He repeated it over and over, his words like a lullaby, singing her to sleep


	5. Chapter 5: The Difference Between

Chapter Five: The Difference Between Promiscuity and Fornication 

Their peaceful slumber was broken by a loud, angry knock on the door. Fiyero and Elphaba looked at each other, eyes wide. They didn't even get the chance to open the door before someone with a key unlocked it and several adult figures burst into the room.

Elphaba's stomach sank each time someone entered the room. First came Madame Morrible, followed closely by Nanny. The last person in looked to be the boys' headmaster. She sank beneath the blanket.

Madame Morrible ripped the blanket off of the bed and Elphaba shrieked, suddenly bare. Fiyero sat up and gulped. Elphaba tried to curl herself into a ball, knowing it was no use. He gently touched her shoulder and looked at her, telling her to calm down, there was nothing they could do now. She shuddered and took his hand for the sake of comfort.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" Madame Morrible had her hands on her hips. "What in Oz were you two thinking? Did you think you wouldn't get caught eventually?"

"Exactly how did we get caught?" Asked Elphaba, snatching the blanket from the floor and covering herself again. And then she remembered Nanny. "Nanny, I understand you were angry when you found that I wasn't in my bed but did you have to go to Madame Morrible?"

"It wasn't only Nanny, Miss Elphaba."

"What?"

"The young man who stays in the room right next to this one thought he heard a female shout, but he didn't hear anything again, so he didn't say anything until this morning when Fiyero didn't show for breakfast." Said the boys' headmaster.

"Oh, shit." Fiyero grabbed at the clock. "It can't be that late…"

"It is quite late, Master Fiyero."

Elphaba looked at Fiyero. "Didn't I tell you to set the damn alarm?"

"The clock is out of batteries, Elphie."

"Damn." She shook her head and looked back at Morrible. "Are we all going to just stand here and discuss what time it is or is there a point to all of this?"

"Well, one, a girl in the boys' dormitories is a huge offense; two, said girl fornicating with a boy in said dorm is an even worse offense. You two are in deep trouble."

"Do we have to do this here?"

Morrible looked to the boys' headmaster. "Master Saned, the girl has a point. I believe this conversation would be better had in one of my conference rooms, do you agree?"

"Yes." He walked towards the door. "The two of you have two minutes to get dressed. Don't try anything."

And then Fiyero and Elphaba were alone in the room. "Oh, Yero, what are we going to do?" She crawled around, looking for her clothes. "And where the hell did you throw my blouse?"

"That corner." He sighed. "I don't know what we're going to do." He was already dressed.

Quickly, she buttoned her blouse and then looked at Fiyero. "I love you, no matter how badly we get punished for this."

"I love you, too. Always." He kissed her quickly and then they stepped into the hallway.

"Well, at least you didn't make me come in there again. I'll remember that when we decide your punishment. Come, you two." Madame Morrible turned to Nanny. "Go back to the dorm and look after Miss Nessarose. Thank you for informing us of the situation."

Elphaba and Fiyero were left with Madame Morrible and Master Saned, who led them down the stairs. Fiyero saw several boys staring at them, obviously aware of what was going on. He wouldn't be scorned, hell, the guys would pat him on the back, but Elphaba, on the other hand, would be shunned by the other girls and laughed at by the boys. It was especially obvious who they were, given both of their different skin colors.

They entered a meeting room with a table. Fiyero pulled out Elphaba's chair for her, pushed it in, and then sat down next to her. Morrible and Saned were sitting at the opposite heads of the table. Elphaba slid her hand into Fiyero's beneath the table.

"So, what have you to say for yourselves?" Saned asked.

Fiyero and Elphaba looked at each other helplessly. Elphaba said, "If you'll excuse me, sir, what exactly is there for us to say for ourselves?"

Elphaba's sarcasm flew right over Saned and Morrible's heads, but Fiyero had to bite his lip. She squeezed his hand in warning.

"Quite honestly, Miss… uh…"

"Elphaba," supplied Madame Morrible.

"Miss Elphaba, it does seem that there's nothing for you to say. Is there anything either of you can think of that you might want to tell us before we find out ourselves? Is there anything that might explain your situation in a more favorable light?"

Elphaba jumped at that. "It looks bad, I know, but," she turned to Fiyero, "we might as well tell them the entire thing, it's not as if we'll get in any more trouble than we're already in." When he nodded she continued. "At the very end of last year, our group of friends went out and had a few drinks. Fiyero and I had a few more drinks later and we ended up very drunk. The next thing either of us remember is… yeah." Her cheeks got hot.

"Honestly, it was more my fault not hers." Fiyero cut in.

"Fiyero, hush. We promised that we wouldn't allow what had happened to happen again, and we didn't, up until last night. And earlier this year, we had a… disagreement. As bad as this sounds, we got a hotel room, really just to talk. However, it was a long argument and it was so late by the time we made up that we fell asleep – _fully clothed_, mind you. The next morning, Nanny caught me when I snuck back into my dorm and told me I wasn't allowed to see him outside of any friendly gathering until I graduated."

"Obviously, you didn't honor that rule." Madame Morrible commented.

"No, I didn't. You're right. As I was saying, last night he didn't come out to dinner with the rest of the group and when I got home I found a letter in the windowsill. He told me…" She nodded at Fiyero to finish.

"I got word just last night that my father passed away."

Both Morrible and Saned blinked. "That's terrible, but I don't see where…"

Elphaba interrupted. "I was worried about him, understandably, and I didn't want him to have to be alone. So, on my own accord, as it was my own idea, I snuck over there and stuff happened…We fell asleep and then a few hours later, there you were, banging on his door."

"And does Nanny know about this night that you got drunk that you referred to?"

"Yes."

"Well, your story fits all of the facts, makes perfect sense, but I just can't believe it."

"What?"

"Well, your story claims you've only done such a thing twice. Of course, there are only two known times you've done such a thing. You would want it to seem the least amount, wouldn't you?"

"But it's the truth!" Fiyero protested.

"Either way, twice or twenty times, it's the same punishment. There're less than two weeks left in the school year. Expelling you would be pointless. You've already taken your final exams and all that's left is two more days of classes and then a few days of nothing before the graduation ceremony. I'm proposing we send the both of you home. You will have graduated, but you will not take part in the ceremony. How does that sound?"

"Fair enough." Elphaba answered. "When should I be out of here?"

"You will leave tomorrow morning at the latest."

"As good as done, Madame Morrible. We'll be on our way now."

"Wait, Miss Elphaba. I'd just like to let you know that you missed out on a wonderful opportunity. After graduation, I was going to send you and Miss Glinda to the Emerald City to meet the Wizard. However, after seeing your foolishness, I no longer favor the idea."

Elphaba bowed her head. "Sorry."

"You two are adults, and sending a letter to your parents would be for juveniles, though I'm sure Nanny is writing your father right now, Miss Elphaba. But regarding Master Fiyero…"

Both Elphaba and Fiyero looked horrified.

"I want a six page paper on my desk written by one of you or the both of you, I frankly don't care, on the consequences and penalties of fornication and promiscuity."

"Promiscuity! Wait a second…"

"Elphie, don't." Fiyero gave her a look.

She sighed, "Fine."

"I want it by the end of the night and I will reconsider sending a letter to Master Fiyero's parents… parent. By the way, Master Fiyero, I am sorry for your loss. You two are dismissed."

They exited the building and snuck around to a paved and secluded corner of a building. Fiyero hugged Elphaba and said, "We're going to be okay."

"As long as we get that paper done, anyway."

"That was so scary. I was sure we were in for it."

"Well, _we're_ not in for it, but I am. My father will be told anyway. And what will your parents say when you're asked to explain why you got home early?"

"I thought I was going with you to Clowen Grounds and _then _we were _both_ going to go back to Kiamo Ko."

"Perfect timing." She smiled at him. "Speaking of time, you go get packed and I'll write the paper. I can't believe she had the nerve to include promiscuity."

"She's a bitch, it doesn't matter."

"I'll pack later tonight and we'll leave in the morning. Shit, I'm supposed to go with Nanny and Nessa, there's no extra money for a carriage two weeks early."

"You need to start remembering who I am, Elphie. Meet me across the street at the park, eight. Maybe I'll see you at dinner tonight?"

"If I can finish the paper and if Nanny will let me out. Otherwise, I'll see you tomorrow." She stood on her toes and kissed him. "I love you, see you soon." And then she ran to her dorm.

He didn't see her again until eight the next morning. "Did you finish the paper?"

"Yup. And wrote at least two pages on the difference between promiscuity and fornication."

He laughed. "Ready to go?"

She nodded.

"Good. We'll be out of here in no time."

And they were. She'd obviously taken a long time to write the paper and then pack, because she fell asleep on his shoulder almost immediately. He kissed the top of her head and stared out the window. A horrifying thought came to his mind. Sure, he wouldn't have to face his mother finding out about what he and Elphaba had done, but he'd have to face her father.

He and Elphaba had had sex. They weren't married, and as of that moment, not engaged, even. Elphaba's father had every right to disapprove of him, seeing that he was taking Elphaba away from him, at least for some time, when they were to go to Kiamo Ko. But the thought of Elphaba's father looking at him with the knowledge that he had taken her made him cringe.

But what if she wasn't going to stay with him at Kiamo Ko? He had offered her the choice to leave when she chose, after all. What would he do if she did leave? Glancing down at her, still sleeping, he ran a hand through her hair. The carriage stopped just then, jerking her awake. She looked up at him, smiling. "I guess we're here, then."

He helped her out of the carriage and told the driver to put their things near the door. She was already running around, headed towards the house. "Elphaba, wait." But she barely slowed. "Will you marry me?"

She stopped in her tracks and turned to face him from yards and yards away. Disbelieving, she called, gradually, "Did you say something, Yero?"

"Yes, I did. But you can't hear me, now come back here."

Convinced she'd heard him wrong before, she trotted back to him and kissed him. "Now," she said, "you were saying something?"

"I was. I'm going to ask you a yes or no question, and I'm hoping the answer will be 'yes'. But if you chose 'no' simply because you seem to think you're undeserving, I beg you to give it a second thought." He pulled a small, blue velvet box out of his pocket and asked, as he opened it, "Will you marry me?"

She blinked slowly, squeezing her eyes shut tight, and then opened her eyes again. It seemed to be a surprise to her that she was still in the same place. "Pinch me."

Placing a silver ring with a diamond-shaped sapphire on her ring finger, he lightly pinched her. "Well?"

"How am I still standing here?"

"How would you not be still standing here?" He nudged her hand lightly, reminding her of the ring. "Will you answer my question?"

"Fiyero, I… well, you… oh, damn it. Yes, I'll marry you." She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him lovingly. "Of course I will."

He slid an arm around her waist and put his hand in her hair, kissing her. "Good."

Just then a voice called, "Elphaba!"

She pulled out of his embrace and turned to see who it was. "It's good to see you, father."

Frexspar looked from Fiyero to Elphaba. "I just got a very disturbing letter from your Nanny…"

"Father, can we please go inside? I need to sit down. I'm feeling a little tired."

Though Frex knew exactly what she was up to, he sighed and agreed. "I'll put your bags in your room. And I assume he'll be staying in the guest room?" He gestured towards Fiyero.

"Never assume anything, father." She flashed a smile. "We'll discuss that inside."

When they got into the house, they sat down at a small, circular table and had tea. Frex sat up straight and asked, "Why are you home early?"

"You got Nanny's letter; you know why."

"I know quite a bit, young lady." Frex said. "You get kicked out of school…"

"I did not get kicked out! I still graduated, I'm just not in the damned ceremony."

"You got sent home early for getting caught, naked, as if just getting caught wasn't enough, in a boy's dorm room. Nanny is furious; she blatantly called you a tramp in her letter."

Elphaba turned to Fiyero. "If you want to, you're welcome to go sit in my room and read. You don't have to be in here for this."

"I know." Fiyero replied, not moving.

She rolled her eyes at him and turned back to her father. "She called me a tramp? Excuse me, but what does that make mother?"

Frex's eyes flashed with anger. "Don't bring up your mother now!"

"Why not? Because you have nothing to say back to that?" Elphaba stood up, knocked over her chair and walked into her own room.

Fiyero got up to follow her, but Frex muttered, "Don't bother. She'll come out in a minute, anyway."

"Oh." Fiyero sat back down at the table and drummed his fingers on the tabletop. He felt awkward sitting there with Elphaba's father in silence. "Look, sir, um…"

"Don't." Frex shook his head. "I don't want to hear it."

"Sorry."

Frex shrugged and stared out a window. "She was a good girl, you know."

Fiyero, realizing he'd better go along with this, nodded.

"When I saw her off to school at the beginning of this year, she was so pure, so innocent…"

"This year, sir?"

Frexspar looked at Fiyero. "What…? Oh, never mind, I don't want to know. All the same, I'd just like to know, was it worth it?"

"Was what worth it, sir?"

"Doing what you two did. Was it worth forgetting your morals, or at least hers, just for a good time? Was it worth knowing that you couldn't keep yourselves pure until marriage just to satisfy desire? She adores you, that much I can see. I hope you feel the same about her, or else losing herself wasn't worth it, not for her."

"We plan on getting married, sir."

"Might've wanted to do that before you had sex." Frex muttered.

Elphaba stepped into the room, furious, having heard the last few pieces of dialogue. "I was _innocent_, father? Since when? I got to watch all of mother's little affairs as a child, does that make me innocent? I don't think so. And you're talking like I didn't know what I was doing. I'm not a baby anymore, though you're showing more concern now then you ever did when I was a child. You want to know why I did what I did, father? All of my life no one has wanted to touch me, no one has wanted _me_ in any way. All of my life I've been taught that I'll always be laughed at and no one would love me. Thanks to you, I believed that. So why should I wait for marriage, if, according to you, I'll never be loved? Why shouldn't I have liked what happened, when no one ever wanted me before? I didn't care what his motives were for sleeping with me; for a few minutes, at least I could pretend I was loved, something I could never do here." Her cheeks were dark and fire was blazing in her eyes.

"Elphaba…"

"No, father. Mother loved many men aside from you and slept with them, too. You know that and I know that. I don't understand how you could have the nerve to scold me when, unlike mother, I plan on marrying the _one_ I slept with. And I will be _faithful_." Shaking slightly, she reached out to Fiyero. "Come, my love, I'm tired." Back to her father, she said, "_We_'ll be getting to bed now." With that, she left the room, Fiyero following somewhat guiltily.

"Fae, sweetheart…"

"Don't ever call me that again."

"What, Fae?"

"No, sweetheart. Never."

"All right. But Fae, you didn't have to snap at your father like that. It's understandable. You're his daughter and I'm taking you away from him. Of course it would upset him."

"He never cared before." She was livid.

He came up and hugged her. "As much as you thought he didn't, maybe he did."

She shrugged him off. "I doubt it." Quickly, she changed out of her clothes and slipped into bed.

He didn't reply, just sat and watched her attempt to fall asleep. There was a mattress on the floor, but there was also more than enough room in the bed. "Calm down," he got in next to her, "I want the old Fae. I don't like seeing you so hurt and upset."

She rolled over and looked at him, her anger melting in his eyes and she yawned. "I love you," she mumbled tiredly.

"That's what I wanted to hear. That's the girl I love." Then she fell asleep against his chest and he drifted off to the smell of her hair.

It was a little less than a week later, and she'd fallen asleep early the night before. She'd fallen asleep in a chair, but someone must've picked her up and placed her in bed. Fiyero's arms were around her and she sighed contentedly.

There was a knock at the door and she wanted badly to ignore it. However, Frex came in, followed by Nanny and Nessa. "Elphaba, your sister and Nanny are home." He hadn't meant for Nanny and Nessa to follow him into the room. "I thought I said…"

Elphaba stared at her sister, whose eyes were wide. Her Nessa, who surely, had she known, would've viewed what she'd done before to get herself sent home as a sin, was now shaking her head, disappointed. As it was with Frex, Nessa's faith revolved around the belief that sex before marriage was a sin, and here Elphaba was, in the bed she'd slept in as a child, next to Fiyero. "Nanny, Nessa, father, please leave the room and I'll be out in a moment."

They exited the room hurriedly, embarrassed by her embarrassment. Fiyero had woken by now and was looking at her, biting his lip. "I'm guessing now wouldn't be a good time to ask for just a few more minutes of sleep?"

She hit him with a pillow playfully. "If you want a few more minutes, take them, I'll be in the living room." Hopping off of the bed, she found some clothes and hastily pulled on something that seemed to match. Seeing him watching her, she threw him a look and exited the room. Fiyero simply buried his head back in the pillow and went back to sleep.

Around the table were Frex and Nanny, Nessa off to the side because of her wheelchair. Nanny commented, "I see you haven't learned anything in the past few weeks."

"Mother didn't learn in all of the years of her life!"

"Elphaba!"

"What? I'm just being honest."

"Your mother was who she was. But you are different, Elphaba. This is not like you. What happened at Shiz was unlike you, and walking into your room to find you sleeping with that same boy was unexpected, I must say."

Nessa nodded in agreement. "Elphaba, I know you don't believe that you have a soul, but even you know that sex not under the bonds of marriage is sinful. I'd have expected this from many people, but not you, dear sister."

"Nessa, please." Elphaba pleaded. "We got carried away."

"You haven't only slept with him once."

_No,_ Elphaba wanted to say, _you're right. I've really slept with him twice. Big difference. _"What's the use? None of you understand any of this! At this point it doesn't matter. We're going to get married anyway, there's no harm done."

Nanny stood up and surprised them all by slapping Elphaba. "You can't marry him. Your duty is here. You must step up and become Eminent Thropp."

"I will not be the Eminent Thropp." She looked around at all of them. "You look almost upset. I'd have thought you'd be relieved not to have someone so irresponsible as me being Eminent Thropp. Fiyero is a prince; he has a duty to stay with his people. And I feel that my duty is to stay with him. Who is up to be the Eminent Thropp in the case of my disappearance?"

Nanny looked at her. "Nessarose."

"Well, then, Nessa, you're welcome to take the position." She bowed mockingly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go back to bed."

Fiyero looked up as she shut the door behind her softly. "Fae?"

"Still tired?" She changed for bed again.

"Somewhat."

"Me too." She crawled over him and put her head on the pillow. "Goodnight, darling."

"Fae, it's definitely not anywhere near the evening."

"Oh, shut it. Just let me sleep." She closed her eyes, smiling. "I love you."

"I love you more." He stole a kiss and fell asleep.

Nanny and Frex crept into the room later while Elphaba and Fiyero were still asleep. "I don't understand what happened. How did I not see this change?"

"Look at them, all 'in love' and happy. They have no shame. But do you see what I see?"

Frex shook his head.

"She's almost happy."

"Almost."

"Or maybe I'm reading too much into her expression which may or may not be there simply from having been satisfied."

"Do you think they'll last?"

"I really don't know. If all that matters is the quality and activeness of their sex life, then, yes. But somehow I think there's more than that."

"But more of what?"

"I have no idea. But there's definitely something. Maybe what it is doesn't matter."

Fiyero stirred just then but only noticed Elphaba; he hadn't been facing where Nanny and Frex were. He pushed a wisp of hair out of her face and kissed her nose, mumbling, "I love you." After that, he went back to sleep and didn't wake again until Nanny and Frex had long left the room. "Fae, are you awake?"

She blinked sleepily and brightened when she saw his face. "I am now."

He stretched out but didn't get up. "What time is it?"

Her eyes wandering the room, she said, "Almost seven. We missed dinner."

"So, we should be going back to sleep in a few hours, anyway?"

"I guess. Is there a point in even getting up? Nanny and Nessa have the room to the right, father has the room close to this wall right here. I can hear him in his room. He won't like us eating after dinner has been served."

"I'm not quite tired, though."

"We really shouldn't get up; my family sleeps lightly."

"Okay, then let's talk."

Propping her chin up in her hands she looked at him curiously. "About what?"

"I don't know." He looked at her in the same way she looked at him and kissed her. "We do have a wedding to plan."

"Do you really think I care what the wedding is going to be like, Yero?"

"Probably not. But still, let's talk about it. You know it's going to have to be at Kiamo Ko, right? And you have no problem with it?"

"It's fine with me."

"When are we going back, anyway?"

"We should leave tomorrow. I can't be here much longer without going insane." She said. "I dealt with transportation and such earlier today, so we can leave at whatever time you want, my dear."

"Great. Um, Elphie?"

"What is it?"

"I hope you want kids."

She gave him a look that told him she most definitely did not. "Why?"

"I'm going to be king. I need an heir to the throne. A male heir."

"What if we have a million daughters?" She was not fond of this concept.

"Don't worry about it, Fae."

"Easy for you to say."

"Fine. If you don't want to marry me…"

"Fiyero! Shut up. Of course I want to. I just don't like the idea of having kids."

"You don't even have to take care of them. We've got servants and nurses, Fae."

She sighed, "All right."

"You're not angry with me, are you?"

"Of course not, Yero."

"I love you."

"I love you, too." She pulled the blanket over her head and muttered, "I'm getting tired just thinking about the ordeal of having children. You see what you've done? I'm going to sleep."

**Who guessed they were going to get caught? Good intuition. Anyway, for those of you who were waiting on my other stories (What if?, Romance at Shiz or Haunted) I've started new chapters. So, those should be updated soon, too. Thanx readers! Please comment!**


	6. Chapter 6: Nothing is ever too good

Chapter Six: Nothing is ever too good to be true 

The reached Kiamo Ko midway through the next week, glad to have gotten away from Elphaba's family. Fiyero hadn't written his mother to tell her about the wedding because he'd only asked Elphaba about two weeks before and the letter would most likely have gotten there after they did. So Fiyero decided to tell his mother first thing the morning after they'd arrived. Elphaba and Fiyero slept in separate rooms because, unlike Elphaba's family, no one at Kiamo Ko had any idea what had gone on at Shiz or that the two of them had already slept together.

"Fiyero, do I have to be there when you tell her?"

"Why shouldn't you be?"

Elphaba sighed, "What if she's not happy that you're marrying me? I don't want to see the look on her face if she's disappointed."

"Elphaba, my mother liked you. We've gone over this. She is not going to be disappointed."

"I just don't know…"

It was breakfast time and Fiyero was trying to decide exactly how to word his announcement. Elphaba sat, kicking her feet idly on his bed waiting for him to finish. As much as Fiyero loved her, Elphaba could be difficult at times. "Come on. I promise it won't be like that." He turned around and kissed her heatedly.

"Don't do that." She murmured. "Or I'll pull you down onto the bed and _then_ what will your mother think?"

Smiling, he took her hand. "Let's go downstairs."

Reluctantly, she followed him downstairs and sat at the breakfast table with the rest of his family. She smiled at Lali when the little girl came running to her and tugged at her dress, wanting to play. "After breakfast, all right?"

Lali pouted. "Okay."

When everyone was almost finished, Fiyero took Elphaba's hand under the table. "Uh, I've got something to tell everyone."

Elphaba gulped. Lali looked confused. Gondeko and Sidrio pretty much ignored him. Fiyero's mother motioned for him to continue.

"Well, I… um, I…."

He wasn't going to be able to say it. Elphaba squeezed his hand and said, "Yero, it's all right."

"Well, Elphaba and I are engaged."

There was a moment of silence before Fiyero's mother squealed excitedly and hugged her son and her soon to be daughter in law. "That's wonderful!"

The two boys shrugged and Lali asked, "Does that mean Elphaba is going to be like my sister?"

Elphaba laughed. "Yes."

Suddenly, the little girl's expression became downcast as she turned to her mother. "I wish we could tell daddy all these good things."

Everyone was silent for a moment and then Elphaba spoke, "You don't have to."

Fiyero got out of his chair and wrapped his arms around Elphaba and Lali asked, "Why not?"

"He already knows."

"You think so?"

Elphaba smiled and touched the little girl's nose playfully. "I know so."

Fiyero's mother sniffled a little and Fiyero tightened his arms around Elphaba and whispered, "I love you."

Lali hopped around and said, "I'm going to go draw pictures of what your dress should look like!" The little girl then left the room excitedly.

Fiyero's mother wiped away a stray tear at the corner of her eye and said, "Thank you. I didn't know how I was going to respond to that."

"My mother died when I was little and my Nanny used to tell us that." Elphaba said softly.

Fiyero cocked his head at her. "How is it that you don't want kids when you're so good with them?"

She blushed a darker green and shrugged. "Didn't I tell you I'd live with it?"

"I know, but I want you to want kids."

Fiyero's mother smiled. "Honestly, I didn't want children at first, either. And then, even when I didn't have to have more, I had three more, because I loved this one so much." She kissed Fiyero on the cheek. "And now I have to give him up. Thank the Unnamed God for the other three; though Oz only knows I'll be giving them up soon enough, too. Take care of him, will you?"

Elphaba looked up and the two women hugged. "I will." She felt Fiyero take her hand and she looked at him and hugged him, too.

"Okay, are we all done with these sentimental moments now?" Fiyero said, trying to lighten the mood. "Hey!" He ducked as Elphaba pretended to hit him. Grabbing her by the waist, he kissed her and dipped her mischievously.

She jumped and then giggled helplessly. Arms around his neck, almost nose to nose with him, she said, "I love you."

"I love you, too."

Fiyero's mother grabbed a pad of paper and a pen and sat down at the kitchen table. "All right, then. Planning time."

Elphaba and Fiyero joined her at the table and the first thing out of Elphaba's mouth was, "I am _not_ wearing white."

Fiyero looked at her. "You know what? I think you'd better write to Glinda. She'll kill you for not letting her help out. And I'm sure she could solve all of these little problems for you."

Elphaba shook her head, laughing. "I think I'll have to. Is it all right if she comes and stays two weeks early before the wedding?"

Fiyero nodded.

Elphaba then did the most un-Elphaba-like thing, she squealed. "Oh, she is going to die!"

"Did you just squeak?"

"Shut up, Yero."

"Well that's a nice way to talk to your future husband."

"Oh, hush, you know I love you."

"Fae, you are a pain in the neck."

"Gee, thanks." She got out of the chair and turned away from him, pretending to be offended.

He tackled her on the couch. "You'd better thank me."

She struggled to pin him down in vain. Instead she kissed him. "No way will I thank you."

He kissed her back and deeply. They almost forgot his mother's presence and Fiyero kissed her neck while fiddling with the buttons on her blouse.

Elphaba was panting and giggling and then she realized where they were and she stopped him. "Fiyero!"

Both of their faces were more than a little flushed and he'd climbed directly on top of her, her hips ground against his waist. She could feel that he was hard from the pressure against her and she looked up at him imploringly, begging him to move or let go before they got themselves into anymore uncomfortable situations. One of his hands was on her breast and she squirmed.

"Yero, get off."

Under his breath, he said to her, "Do you feel that? I don't quite want my mother seeing that."

"Well how am I supposed to get out from under you?"

"I don't know. Wiggle your way out."

And so she did and glared at Fiyero. "What were you thinking?"

Fiyero's mother was staring at them intently, eyebrows raised.

"Sorry, Mom. I… that was my fault, sorry… I lost my reasoning for a moment…"

"Thank Oz I can give it back to you." Elphaba hit him over the head with one of the couch pillows and sat up straight. "It's called self-control, Fiyero."

He wouldn't sit up straight, but gratefully grabbed the pillow that Elphaba had thrown at him and adjusted so it didn't look as bad.

Fiyero's mother knew, though. She could see the guilt in both of their eyes. But she kept silent, more for Elphaba's sake than Fiyero's; she'd have a discussion with her son later. Passion could get out of hand, and she understood that. It was no excuse, but she'd give them the benefit of the doubt. "Elphaba, why don't you write to your friend and invite her out here? It sounds like she'll be a big help."

"I think I'll do that." She headed upstairs into the guest room she'd used last time.

Fiyero made to follow her but his mother caught his arm and looked at him, not speaking until they'd heard the door to the guest room shut above their heads. Moving to sit down, she said, "Be honest with me. Have you two already had intercourse?"

"Aw, Mom, please don't talk to me about this."

"If your father were still around I'd have him do it, but he's not. Answer the question."

He nodded. "It wasn't her fault at all. It was the night that I found out that Dad died. I sent her a note telling her why I wasn't going out and eating with the rest of them and she was worried and snuck into my dorm because she didn't want me to be alone. She kissed me in an attempt to comfort me and I took advantage of that. I know she could've told me to stop, but she felt awful because of what I was going through. It wasn't a fair situation for me to have put her in, but I did."

"Were you two planning on getting married by this point?"

"I was planning on asking her, yes, but she had no idea."

"I'm not going to yell or scold you. With the way people are these days, you two are just lucky that you're going to be married. A lot of the time, even when I was your age, it didn't work that way."

"She would never have let me do that under any other circumstances. I'm sorry if I disappointed you, Mom."

"You haven't disappointed me. You chose a good girl. I can see that you two love each other. That's all that matters." She hugged him. "Just don't go and make the mistake your father did."

He pulled away. "What?"

His mother sighed. "Well, I doubt you'll make that mistake, because you've been given the choice. As you know, until you worked it out with us to evade tradition, every Arjiki prince has had an arranged marriage…"

Fiyero suddenly thought he could see where this was going.

"And, like you, your father was unhappy being stuck in arranged marriage. However, unlike you, it was too late to get out of it for him. I don't know how to tell you this, but your father… well, you have three half siblings that you don't know about. I've kept track of them to make sure nothing strange goes on, but I thought you should know."

"Mom, I…" He put his arms around his mother, who was crying softly. "I'm sorry, Mom."

"No, don't be. I didn't necessarily want to marry your father, either. I just never went to that extreme. But don't do anything like that to her. Part of the reason your father relented and allowed you to chose was because of that."

"I know, Mom. And I love her."

Elphaba came wandering down the stairs that moment, holding the letter she'd written to Glinda. Unable to see Fiyero's mother's face, she didn't notice the somber attitude in the room. "Yero my hero, will you put this in the mail?"

Fiyero's mother regained composure and Fiyero got up and took the letter from Elphaba. "No problem. I'll be back in a moment."

Elphaba sat down next to Fiyero's mother and stared at her hands.

His mother said, "He loves you a lot, you know."

"I know. But you're his mother and he'll always love you. Please don't think I'm taking him away."

"I don't. I won't be around all that much longer anyway."

"Don't say that. You're much younger than his father was, aren't you?"

"Yes. I just worry, if anything should happen to me, Lali…"

"I'll take care of her." Elphaba put her hand on the elder woman's. "I promise."

"Thank you."

Fiyero came back into the room. "Uh oh, it looks like you two are sharing secrets? Mom, tell me you haven't told her the Blue River story. You always tell that one." He laughed and sat next to Elphaba, "Hey, Fae."

She leaned into him. "Hi."

"Let's go for a walk. You have to see the forests around here. It doesn't look like it's going to rain, so you'll be safe."

"Take something to eat, you two. Grab a blanket to eat on, too. It's close to lunchtime now." Fiyero's mother lectured.

Fiyero grabbed a few things and he and Elphaba went wandering around the Vinkus forests. When they finally found a clearing to eat in, it was far past noon.

Elphaba grabbed the fruit he'd brought with and ate hungrily. "I love your family, Fiyero."

"Are you going to be offended if I don't feel the same way about yours?"

"Hell, I don't feel the same way about mine." Elphaba grinned, finishing an apple and stretching out on the blanket.

He relaxed next to her and stared at the sky. "I love you."

She almost drifted off and for a few minutes they were silent. "I just feel like I'm getting too many good things for this to last. Life can't possibly be this happy, Yero. It just can't."

"It can. You're just not used to it. Life's never given you anything all that good before, and now you're getting what you've been missing. We're going to spend the rest of our lives together, you and me."

"Too good to be true," she said softly.

"No."

"But, as much as I love you, don't you worry we'll mess up?"

"Not at all. I love you and you love me. We don't have to have anything more than that, Fae."

Standing up and offering Fiyero her hand, she said, "Let's get back. Come on."

He got up and they walked back to the castle hand in hand.

Two weeks later, Glinda arrived to help plan the wedding. They decided it would be a month from Glinda's arrival, to give all of the distant relatives time to travel. Glinda found a solution for Elphaba's dress problem (she refused to let Elphaba wear black, but they finally agreed on navy).

"Wake up, Elphie, it's your wedding day!" Glinda exclaimed, jumping excitedly on Elphaba's bed.

"What time is it?"

"Time to get ready!"

"No, really," Elphaba said groggily, "What time is it?"

"Seven in the morning."

"I want two more hours of sleep."

"But why?"

"I'm going to be up late, with the reception and all. I don't want to get too tired."

"You're getting ready and that's all there is to it!"

"All right, all right."

Glinda took six hours to dress and prep Elphaba for the wedding, and Elphaba honestly thought it wasn't worth a quarter of the time. Besides, she barely remembered any part of the wedding; it all went in a blur. The next thing she clearly remembered was a stone stairwell.

"Keep those eyes closed, Fae." He held both of her hands in his and led her up the stairs. "We're almost there."

Giggling from champagne and excitement, she followed. "Where are we going?"

"We have an entire section of the castle to ourselves for the next three or four weeks. There's a kitchen, a small dining room, a bedroom… all done up nicely for our honeymoon. We don't have to leave the castle, or even this section of the castle."

"I can't believe we're finally…"

"…married." He finished for her and kissed her, making her flinch because it was unexpected. And he kissed her again, and again…

It was early afternoon when they awoke the next morning. Yawning, Elphaba snuggled closer to Fiyero beneath the silk blankets. "Good morning," she muttered.

He stretched out, gazing at her body next to his. "Hello, my Elphie, my bride, my queen. I love you."

"I love you, too."

"And now we can love each other whenever the hell we feel like it, no fathers, grandmothers or headmasters to scold us."

"If you're suggesting now, I'm going to have to decline. I'm just tired."

"Actually, I was suggesting we eat something."

"Hmmm. That sounds good."

"Anything for my Elphie.

They spent most of their honeymoon lounging around and living like royalty (perhaps that's because Fiyero _was_ royalty). Elphaba had trouble getting used to the servants and kind treatment.

A maid picked up Elphaba's empty mug. "May I get that for you, Mistress?"

"No, I can - "

"Elphie." Fiyero put his hand over hers. "Let her take it. Stop trying to do everything for yourself." He waved the maid out of the room.

"But Fiyero, there's a point where it's fine and a point where it's just being lazy."

"Fae. Calm down." He'd been lying in bed with his feet propped up and he sat up at this point.

She'd already been sitting up and she looked at him, tired of arguing. "All right, all right."

"Now relax." He laid back again.

"If you want me to…" She kissed him and curled herself up close to him. "I will never learn to live like this."

"You're going to have to. And, Fae, even if we didn't have servants, I'd be doing anything you asked."

"I wouldn't let you. I'm no princess."

"You're right. You're more of a queen, married to the king of the Arjikis."

She laughed. "I don't need to be pampered."

"But you _deserve_ to be."

Idly counting the diamonds on his body, she said, "You think I deserve way too much. I'm not perfect, Yero. I haven't done anything to deserve this."

"Only lived through hell. Is that not enough? Elphaba, you've told me about your childhood. You sat around being neglected while your mother sat around and had sex with whomever she pleased. Nessa was your father's favorite while he acted like you disgusted him. At Shiz, people stared and laughed at you. Did anyone love you before I did?"

She shook her head. "Not really."

"And no one should go that long without being loved in _some _way." He said firmly.

"No. I don't deserve anything. I've never done anything quite that bad, Yero, but I haven't done anything all that good either."

"You were there for me when my father died."

"First of all, you loved me before that. Second of all, that's not 'all that good'. In fact, it's completely cancelled out because we had sex that night, too." She argued.

"I give up." He threw his hands in the air.

With a hard, severe kiss against his mouth, she said, "Are you sure you want to give up on me?"

Grinning foolishly, her pulled her to him by the waist and kissed her with twice as much force as she had kissed him with. "Maybe not."


	7. Chapter 7: Happy

Chapter Seven: Happy 

"I've been wondering," Fiyero began as he and Elphaba were sitting peacefully in the living room, "why, exactly, don't you want kids?"

"A lot of reasons. I've never had much motherly instinct… what?" She asked Fiyero, who had started a coughing fit.

"Not much motherly instinct? Look at the way you are with Lali!"

"It's different. She's your little sister! I don't have to physically _give birth_ to her. I am not responsible for taking care of her for the first eighteen years of her life, Fiyero. Besides, I like being with you and you alone. Having children would detract from that. It would detract from our privacy, our time together with just each other, our sex life, everything."

"Fae, I promise it won't be like that. We don't even have to take care of the child or children or whatever. Remember?"

"Still, do you have any idea how different giving birth is going to make me feel? And I don't want to go carry a child to term, I don't want to have to give birth, I don't want any of that, Fiyero."

Quietly, he said, "But that's not all, is it Fae?"

"What do you mean?"

"You… you're afraid it'd look like you, aren't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Fiyero." She said slowly.

"You don't want a child because you don't want anything that'd look like you."

She shook her head fiercely. "That's not…"

"Yes it is. It is it. You dread that any child you bear would have one or more of your features and you can't stand that."

Angrily, she threw down the book she'd been reading. "Yes! That's it, all right? Now leave it alone!" She buried her face in her hands, shaking.

Shocked by the emotional reaction she'd displayed, he moved towards her, to touch her, but she glared at him and shoved him away.

"Don't touch me. Leave me alone." She left the room and he heard her heading upstairs.

Fiyero's mother, who'd been in the other room, said, "Maybe you shouldn't have pushed that just now."

"I'm starting to agree with that. I just don't understand why she snapped like that." He shook his head. "I'll stay down here for another hour or so, then I'll go to bed and try to talk to her."

When he did come up two hours later, she was in her nightgown, but not in the bed. "You or me."

"What?"

"One of us is sleeping downstairs on the couch tonight, would you rather or should I?"

"Elphaba…"

"No, Fiyero."

"Come on, I didn't mean to - "

"I don't care. I don't feel like sleeping in the same bed with you tonight. I guess I'll be going downstairs, then. See you in the morning." Without another word, she walked downstairs.

In the morning, Fiyero's mother woke her. "Elphaba?"

Yawning, she stretched. "Good morning."

"What are you doing sleeping on the couch?"

"Not sleeping with Fiyero."

"Elphaba, he wasn't trying to upset you."

"It doesn't matter."

"But it does. He loves you."

Elphaba got up. "I know he does. But he can't possibly understand."

"Neither can I. No one else can. Forgive him."

She shrugged. "I'm going to get dressed."

Upstairs in their room, Fiyero woke to the sound of her opening the door. He propped his head up on his arms and looked at her.

"I'm getting dressed, that's all."

"Am I allowed to talk to you?" He asked.

"You can try. I can't guarantee that I won't walk out in the middle of whatever it is that you have to say."

"Fae, I love you more than anything in the world. I didn't think that would upset you the way it did."

"Maybe you should think more often, then." She said nastily.

"Elphaba!" He got up and grabbed her shoulders. "Don't talk to me that way."

She yanked herself out of his grasp and strode across the room. "Then don't talk to me the way you did last night!"

"Please. I don't want to fight with you. I don't want to have to start sleeping in separate rooms. You mean everything to me. I would never purposely do something if I thought it would hurt you."

"I know that, Fiyero. But that doesn't make everything right again."

"Is there anything, anything at all, that I could do?"

Very shakily, she whispered, "Hold me."

"Oh, Fae…" He wrapped her in his arms and held her close to him while she took several deep breaths. Gently, he put her on the bed. "You didn't get any sleep last night, did you?"

"I got a few hours." She sat up in the bed.

He sat next to her and massaged her shoulders. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, too." Elphaba turned around and kissed him, pulling him down onto the bed with her. Though it was time to wake up and start the day, they just sank beneath the blankets again.

When Glinda came again to visit for Lurlinemas, she found that married life had not changed Elphaba much. If anything, she'd become more independent, like she was determined to prove her independence.

"Did I show you what Boq sent me for Lurlinemas? It's pink!"

Elphaba cast a sideways glance at the necklace Glinda was wearing and commented, "Of course it's pink. He knows you well enough."

"Whenever he's even remotely around where I live, he mentions that he'll be 'in the neighborhood' a million times in his letters."

"Gee, Glinda, maybe that means he's hoping you'll ask to meet him and catch up!" Elphaba exclaimed sarcastically.

Glinda, who was way below Elphaba's sarcasm, said, "I never thought of that."

Elphaba fought not to laugh as she struggled to mold the arms and torsos of several dolls for Lali's Lurlinemas present. "Consider that next time."

"Okay, so, tell me about the honeymoon." Glinda lowered her voice. "You wrote me letters, but I want to hear about it. Those letters were seriously censored."

"What more do you want? It went fine. The end."

"Details, Elphie!"

"It's not like it was anything all that special. We'd already had sex twice before, so it didn't make much of a difference."

"It did. It had to. You two were drunk the first time, and you knew what you were doing was wrong the second time. That's different. Plus, you spent almost a month in one section of the castle, as I recall from your letters, you had time to try all sorts of things."

"Glinda! That is absolutely none of your business."

"Oh, come on, tell me. I'm not asking for a complete retelling of the story, but I need _something_ juicy."

"I won't tell you. But, about those couple of weeks, I think…"

Fiyero walked into the room just then and Elphaba shut her mouth immediately. Glinda glared at him, but he had no idea what was wrong with her, so he shrugged and hugged Elphaba. "Hey. How're you doing today?"

"Didn't you ask me that this morning?" She smiled.

"It's been a few hours."

"If you ask me that every few hours for the rest of our lives, Fiyero, I might just have to kill you."

"You wouldn't do that."

"Think what you please."

"I think what I please with or without your permission."

"I'm sure you do." She kissed him on the cheek and went back to the dolls.

"How's it going with that, babe?"

She glared at him. "What have I said about…?"

"Sorry, _Fae_. But how are you doing?"

"It's going all right, I guess. And Glinda is designing their clothes, because I can't do much more than sew black dresses. I don't know anything else."

"She really doesn't." Glinda chimed. "Fiyero, I hope you never have daughters, for their sakes. Think of the fashion sense they'd have with _her_ as a mother!"

Fiyero chuckled. "They'd be beautiful if they had her as a mother, though."

Elphaba rolled her eyes and lightly kicked Fiyero, who grabbed her leg, having trapped her against the table. She scolded him when he began kissing her fervently. "Fiyero, don't! Not in front of Glinda, for Oz's sake!"

"What not in front of me?" Glinda perked up at the sound of something she wasn't supposed to see.

Pushing Fiyero away lightly, Elphaba replied, "Nothing."

Glinda raised her eyebrows but went back to her sewing. "You two." She shook her head.

"What?"

"You can't keep your hands off of each other."

"That would be _his _fault!" Elphaba pointed at Fiyero.

Fiyero argued back. "Oh, right, Fae. So the other night when you woke me up…"

"That doesn't count!"

"What about…?"

"Never mind."

"That's not even it." Glinda said, seeming almost sad.

"What is it?" Fiyero asked.

"You're so in love. Why can't I be that happy?"

"Happy?" Elphaba said, looking at Glinda with incredulity. "Yes, we're happy. But it's not so easy, Glinda. It was hell getting here. And there'll be more hard times to come."

"I mean, think of all the trouble we got in at Shiz." Fiyero said. He'd come in to get a few more nails, he was building a dollhouse for Lali; they'd all come together to do something big for the little girl. "I'm almost done. I'll be back in here in a few minutes."

"All right, Yero."

Glinda nudged Elphaba once Fiyero was out of earshot. "Hello, Elphie! You were saying something."

"Oh yeah. Never mind."

"You're so mean. You never tell me anything and it's Lurlinemas Eve, for Oz's sake."

"Glinda, get over it."

"Humph!" Glinda turned away from Elphaba and went back to her sewing.

"What is your problem? I'm _not_ telling you details about my sex life!"

"I wasn't asking that! I just want to know what it's like. _I've_ never had sex, you know."

"What it's like depends on who it's with." Elphaba said simply.

"Well…?" Glinda said expectantly.

"Now _that_ is nothing you're ever going to hear about!"

"Okay, if it's with the person you love, is it any good?"

"Um… I don't think it always is. Not if the person you love happens to be, how do I say this? Happens to be… physically unequipped. However, I don't know about that."

"You don't? Well, that tells me something."

Elphaba turned dark green. "Glinda, if you even say another word, I will never let you live it down."

Glinda grinned widely. "Whatever you say, Elphie."

Fiyero strode into the room. "All right, I'm good to go. I just put Lali to bed."

"Where's your mother?" Elphaba asked.

"She's asleep already, too. She's aging almost too quickly."

"Yero…" She hugged him lightly and then picked up her things. "Well, let's go set things up for tomorrow morning."

Glinda grabbed the piles of fabric in front of her. "All right. Fiyero, what color is the dollhouse?"

"Purple."

"Not pink?" Glinda looked disappointedly down at the doll garments she'd made, most pink, blue and other girly colors.

"Pink trim, if it makes you feel any better."

"It might if I knew what trim was."

Elphaba snorted. "I'm not explaining this one."

"Just… it'll have some pink. Now let's go."

They all headed into the living room and set to work setting things up on the opposite side of the room from the fireplace. In no time, the dollhouse was set up, the dolls sitting outside it like a little family and the clothes either on the dolls or in little boxes by the dolls' feet.

"Time for bed, then." Glinda said.

Elphaba began walking upstairs after Glinda, "Yes," noticing Fiyero wasn't following, she said, "Yero? Come on."

"Up in a minute, I promise."

Elphaba and Glinda went upstairs into separate rooms and Fiyero adjusted a few things and then followed Elphaba into their bedroom. She was already in the bed, relaxed. "Happy Lurlinemas Eve."

He smiled and got undressed. "It certainly seems to be going that way."

"Come on."

He got on the bed. "I love you." Kissing her, he lifted her back into an arch easily. It was much later when, after having made love three times, he was watching Elphaba fall asleep next to him. "Elphaba?"

She didn't stir.

"Perfect." Carefully, he got out of bed and pulled on a pair of pants. He had a few Lurlinemas surprises of his own to prepare. It was almost morning by the time he returned upstairs and she wasn't in bed. "Fae, where are you?"

She came wandering out of the bathroom. "Just oiling my skin." Her hand flew to her mouth and she mumbled something about brushing her teeth before disappearing into the bathroom again.

"Happy Lurlinemas to you, too." He laughed.

After a few minutes, she was getting dressed and he sat on the bed, watching her. She glared at him. "Would you stop staring?"

"It's not like I haven't seen you naked before."

"I know, but you're _really_ staring."

"Sorry." He got up and got dressed himself. "Lali's not awake yet…"

Just as he said this, the little girl burst into the room. "Come downstairs! I want to see what's downstairs and mommy said we can't until _everyone's _awake!"

Fiyero and Elphaba looked at each other and laughed. Elphaba said, "We'll be right out, all right Lali?"

The little girl ran out of the room, "I'm waiting!"

Quickly, Fiyero took Elphaba and kissed her. "Downstairs, then, my love?"

"Yes," she said, smiling.

"Good." He covered her eyes with his hands and told her, "I have a surprise for you, too. Don't worry, I'll make sure you don't fall."

As he led her down the stairs, Glinda came up behind them. "What's going on?"

"That's what I'd like to know," said Elphaba.

"You'll see in due time, Fae." Fiyero turned back to Glinda, "Lurlinemas surprise time."

"Why do I have no clue about this?" Glinda demanded.

"No offense, but you couldn't keep it from her."

"I can keep a secret."

"This sounds familiar," Elphaba commented. "Didn't you say that when I told you about the night Fiyero and I got drunk? And didn't I later find out that you talked to him that same night about it?"

"Well, um…"

"Exactly." Fiyero said. Leading Elphaba into one of the old, unused empty (or previously unused and empty) rooms, he let her look around.

"Fiyero!" Her arms were around him in an instant. She kissed him long and hard. "I… I don't know what to say…"

"How about suggesting we go back to bed?" He slid his arms around her waist, keeping her body against his.

"Very funny."

The old room had been turned into a library. Fiyero had spent the previous weeks discreetly gathering all of the books he could find and setting up bookshelves all around the room. In the middle of the room were two desks, a table, some lazy chairs and three couches. It looked like a real library. "Happy Lurlinemas."

She kissed him again and held him tight. "Mmmm."

When they finally let go, Fiyero was grinning. "Again?"

She hit him jokingly. "Naughty, naughty." Smiling at him, she playfully pressed her nose against his. "Maybe we should go back to bed. I mean, after all…"

"One more thing. Look on the desk."

Elphaba cast Fiyero a suspicious look and then walked over to the desk. "Oh sweet Oz! You really didn't need to…"

"Oh, but I did." He took the diamond necklace from her and clasped it around her neck. "Beautiful."

Lali ran in, out of breath. "Mommy's going to sleep for a while more. She says we can wait for breakfast until she's up but we can go ahead and open presents."

"Lali, what's in the living room?" Fiyero asked.

The little girl's eyes lit up. "Let's go see."

Glinda went with Lali while Fiyero and Elphaba stayed in the room for a moment more. "I love you, Yero."

"I love you, too."

"Well, you know, since breakfast might be a while, we can always go back to bed soon…" She gave him a sly, mischievous glance and then they headed into the living room. "So, Lali?"

"Thank you!" The little girl was examining the dolls, clothes and house. "Can I play with them, now?"

"Glinda, if you're up to watching her… Fiyero and I have some things to discuss." Elphaba said.

"No problem. You two go have fun now."

"Oh, believe me, we will."

An hour and a half later a servant knocked on Fiyero and Elphaba's bedroom door. "Breakfast time."

Elphaba looked at Fiyero, smiled and leaned back. "I'm not getting out of bed right now. I refuse."

"Breakfast in bed it is, then." Fiyero said. Raising his voice to the door, he called, "Can you bring breakfast up here on a tray?"

"No problem, master Fiyero, and what do you want?"

"Whatever there is."

"And for your wife?"

"Elphie?" He turned to her, lying beneath the blanket.

"Um, food. And a lot of it." She muttered.

"That's helpful." Fiyero repeated this to the servant and pulled Elphaba close to him. "You're shivering."

"It's cold in here, duh."

"That's why we have two extra blankets."

"I didn't want to bother you."

"Ugh! Elphaba, all you have to do is grab the blanket. It's not like an extra blanket is going to bother me that much."

She snuggled closer to him. "It gives me an excuse to stay as close to you as I possibly can."

He laughed and kissed her. "Come here."

"Not _now_." Elphaba glanced towards the door.

"I didn't mean _that_. We've done that twice since we came up here. I just meant get closer to me."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. "I love you like I couldn't love anything else."

"Hush." He watched a servant come in and put breakfast on the bedside table. After thanking the servant, he grabbed the tray and sat up, motioning for Elphaba to do the same.

"Mmmm. This is so good." Elphaba still couldn't get used to the wonderful taste of food every day. He supposed she'd had a good meal once a week when she was a child, at best.

After breakfast, Lali came knocking on the door and jumped onto the bed, hitting Fiyero in the stomach. "Can I take a nap with you?" She asked innocently.

"A nap? But Lali, it's Lurlinemas! You can't sleep through Lurlinemas."

"But you are."

"Not exactly." Elphaba smiled. "Do you want to play house?"

"With the dollies? Really?"

"Yes. Go downstairs and Fiyero and I will be down to play with you in just a few minutes. Is your mother awake?"

"Yeah. She asked me if you liked Fiyero's surprise."

Elphaba looked at Fiyero. "So _someone_ else knew, just not Glinda."

Fiyero grinned sheepishly. "I can't keep things to myself."

"It's all right, at least you can keep them within a select group of people. Glinda lets all of Oz know what's going on with her. Lali, I'll be right down."

The family spent most of the day playing with Lali. Fiyero and Elphaba fell asleep next to each other on one of the library couches as Elphaba was reading. They didn't wake up until his mother came in and announced that dinner was ready.

Elphaba got up and followed Fiyero into the dining room. "Is everyone at the table?" She looked around.

Fiyero nodded, looking at her curiously. "Yes. Why?"

"I have an announcement."

He was clueless. "What?"

"Well, I… I've thought for a while that maybe… and I wasn't sure… and then just recently I realized that it's right…"

"Fae, what's going on?"

Looking around the table at everyone, she said quietly, "I'm pregnant."


	8. Chapter 8: So You're Pregnant, Now What?

Chapter Eight: _So You're Pregnant, Now What?_

No wonder she'd been acting so odd lately. One moment she'd been happy, the next angry. Now it all made sense. When she'd first said it, he'd taken her into his arms and spun her around, laughing. Remembering, he realized that she'd gone back into the bathroom that morning because she'd gotten morning sickness. This made him laugh harder at his ignorance and Elphaba had given him a strange look.

Only later, as she was falling asleep next to him in their bed, did he truly say anything about her "announcement". "You're really pregnant?"

"Yes. And with the way we are, it only makes sense."

"You have no idea how wonderful this is."

"You're right," she said, somewhat sourly, "I don't."

"Fae…"

"Don't. Just don't."

"No. We need to talk about this." He insisted.

"It's over; it's done with; I'm pregnant. What's there to talk about?"

"The fact that you don't want to be pregnant. I don't like that."

"What can you do about it?" She turned away from him and closed her eyes.

"I don't know. But don't you see what a miracle it can be, Fae?"

"All I see is nine months, well, eight or seven, now, of hell."

"All right. But, Fae, would you look at me?" When she obeyed, he continued, "A child is an entirely new life, part of both of us. Something only we created. Something that our love created. Don't resent it so much."

"Fiyero, I'm afraid." She admitted, curling herself into a protective ball beneath the blanket.

"Don't be." He stroked her hair softly. "What is there to fear?"

"What if something goes wrong?"

"I'll be right here with you for every moment of it and we'll get through it together, I promise. I love you."

"You can't be by my side day and night."

"Wait and see. I will be."

She shivered against him and buried her face in his shoulder. "I need you."

"What, exactly, do you think is going to go wrong?"

"I don't know. But what if there's something wrong with _me_ and because of that the baby doesn't survive and it's all my fault?"

"There's nothing wrong with you."

"How do you know?"

"I don't. But it doesn't matter. We're going to be fine."

She let him take her in his arms as she began to cry softly. Her shivering would not cease and she mumbled, "We can't guarantee that. I'm scared it'll hurt. I'm scared things won't work right. I'm scared you won't love me anymore if things go wrong."

So that was it. "Oh God, Fae, don't ever think that. I love you no matter what. Nothing is going to change that." He lifted her chin and kissed her softly. "I care about you so much, maybe too much. I couldn't ever just stop loving you. Not even if I tried."

She held herself close to him, clutching him tight. All at once she relaxed in his arms. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

She lay next to him in silence for a long time and he thought she'd fallen asleep. But she whispered, "Fiyero?"

"Yes?"

"I kind of want this baby, too."

"Really? You're not just saying that because you think it'll make me happy?"

"Really."

He kissed her nose and smiled, still holding her in his arms. "That's good to know. Good night, Fae. I will always love you."

The next morning, Fiyero laid awake and watched Elphaba sleep. She had fallen asleep smiling and she couldn't look more beautiful to him. Wanting to tell her so, he shook her awake gently. "Fae?"

She yawned and looked at him sleepily. "Good morning, Yero."

"Good morning to you, too, my lovely pregnant wife."

She blushed and giggled lightly. "I love you."

"You're beautiful." He told her. "I've been thinking. I got you pregnant on our honeymoon, didn't I?"

She nodded. "It would seem so."

"Wow. It's just so unreal. In seven months or so, we're going to have a baby. I can't wait."

Elphaba spent her next day in the library. She'd been sitting in there for hours when Fiyero finally walked in during the late morning, making sure she was all right.

"How are you feeling?" He said from the doorway.

Curled up on the couch, she looked up from her book. "I'm feeling all right. I'm nervous, but I'm all right."

"What are you nervous about?" He sat down next to her and lightly rubbed her back.

"The baby." She replied, showing him the book she was reading.

"_So You're Pregnant, Now What?_" He smiled and laughed. "What does it say?"

"Oh, a lot of things."

Snatching the book from her, he read aloud, "'Chapter One: Making Sure You're Pregnant, Chapter Two: Sex During Pregnancy, Chapter Three: The Parents to Be, Chapter Four: The First Trimester, Chapter Five: The Second Trimester, Chapter Six: The Third Trimester, Chapter Seven: The Birth, Chapter Eight: Infanthood,'" He looked at her again and said sarcastically, "Sounds riveting."

"Humph! Well, _you_'re the one that's so excited about this."

"I am. I was kidding, Fae." He took her into his arms and she nuzzled her head against his chest. "I'm very excited about our baby, you know that."

She was about to give him an adoring smile, but suddenly her face grew pale. Tearing herself from his arms, she ran into the bathroom just outside the library and vomited. As she was about to come back in, she clutched her stomach and ran back into the bathroom. When she came back into the room, she said, "Morning sickness."

"You okay?"

"Now I am." She sighed heavily and sat back down, allowing him to put his arms around her again. "But that might be happening for a while now."

"I don't mind. If you want, I'll be right next to you and hold your hand."

Elphaba, whose hair was back in a ponytail, said, "How about holding my hair away from my face? I got lucky today, but…"

"Anything you want, Fae."

"Thanks."

"I'm not going to let you go through the ups and downs of this all alone. We _are_ married, after all."

"And I love you. I'm so nervous, though."

"Don't be. It's going to be one of the best things that ever happens to us, I promise."

She hugged him and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "How is Lali coping with this?"

"I think she likes the idea of someone to play with, but she doesn't like the idea of someone stealing the attention."

"Hell, you can't blame her. She's going to be an aunt and she's not even ten. Speaking of aunts, I might want to write home."

"You haven't written your father yet?"

"Why should I? It's not as if he'd care."

"Fae, he'd care. He'd be curious to know if he has a grandchild."

"No. He wouldn't. Speaking of grandparents, how is your mother?"

"Excited. Very excited, actually. She's already sewing baby clothes. In neutral colors, of course."

Elphaba laughed. "This child is going to be loved."

Putting a hand on her stomach, he said, "Yes, yes it is."

As the weeks progressed, Elphaba began to change. She was more interested in sex than usual and she could get moody. When she was three and a half months pregnant, she started to show.

It was late at night when Fiyero came to bed often times, but she was always awake, it seemed. "Hey."

"Good evening, Fae." Yawning, he undressed and got into bed.

Playfully, Elphaba tackled him and pressed her body against his. "Make love to me."

Pulling her under the blanket with him, he said, "I'd be glad to."

It was later, when they were lying next to each other, tired and drowsy, that Elphaba said, "I'm not so afraid anymore."

"Of what?"

"Having the baby."

"Are you happy?"

"What do you mean?"

"With your life? With our life?"

"I still don't understand."

"Are you happy with the way things turned out?"

"Of course I am. I'm happy with you."

"Would you be happier with me under different circumstances?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know."

"The only thing that matters in whether or not I am happy is whether or not I'm with you." She said sweetly.

He kissed her and hugged her close. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

"I'm glad what happened at Shiz happened. It happened for a reason and we are that reason. Sure, it was a mess when it happened, but I wouldn't be happy any other way." He still had her close.

She closed her eyes and began to dose off. "Oh, Yero."

"Sleep, my love."

She beamed and murmured, "You're going to be a great father."

When he woke in the morning, she was already dressed in one of her larger dresses, staring at herself in the mirror, which was abnormal for her. He looked at her curiously and asked, "What is it?"

"I _look_ pregnant."

He laughed. "Yes, you do. And you look beautiful."

"I look _fat_."

"You? No. You do look pregnant, but not _fat_."

"Maybe you're right. But I hardly look beautiful."

"I think you do."

"No, you don't."

"Come back to bed and I'll prove it." He licked his lips. When she didn't move, he got up and wrapped her in his arms. Kissing her tenderly, he said, "You _are_ beautiful."

Looking down at herself, she said, "I don't see what's so appealing."

"I do." He carried her to the bed and set her down.

She looked away, tears bitterly biting at her skin.

Realizing she was crying, he sat up in alarm. "Fae! Sweet Oz, are you all right? Did I hurt you?"

Tears dripping from her eyes, she said, "I'm fine."

"Then why are you crying?"

A pathetic laugh escaped her throat. "I don't know."

He smiled comfortingly. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Hormones." He told her.

"Probably."

"Are you sure I didn't hurt you? You need to tell me the truth."

"You didn't hurt me, Yero."

He sighed in relief. "Good."

Burying her face in the pillow to stop the salt water from tearing at her skin, she mumbled, "This is driving me crazy."

"It's all right. It's just the baby."

"_Just_ the baby? I'm having emotional breakdowns every five minutes! We can't even touch without me bursting into tears."

"Don't you think you should be out of this stage at four and a half months along?"

"I should be. I'm not."

"Don't worry about it. It'll stop soon."

"I hope so." She groaned. Suddenly, she clutched her stomach and a shocked expression came over her.

"Fae? Are you okay? It's not morning sickness again, is it? I thought that was over, too."

"No, no, it's not morning sickness," she said softly. "I think it's moving."

"What?"

"The baby. I think it's moving. Here." She took his hand and placed it on her stomach. "You feel that?"

He smiled widely. "I do. It is moving."

She chuckled blithely. "It's really alive, isn't it?"

"Of course it is."

"This is… the strangest feeling I've ever felt in my life."

"But it's good, isn't it?"

"Yes. Surprisingly, it is." She'd suddenly cheered up. "It's so weird to think that there's something alive inside of me."

"It's a good thing to know our baby's alive and healthy in there, though." Fiyero told her.

Elphaba laid back in the bed happily. "This baby has a lot of energy."

"Like it's father."

"Yes, just like you. Let's hope that, unlike you, it doesn't have _too_ much energy."

"Fae? What do you mean?"

"Sometimes you're exhausting, Yero my hero."

He looked offended. "I am not!"

"You wouldn't know."

"I think I know what too much energy is, okay?"

"Nope. You don't."

Lali knocked on their door and Elphaba told her it was fine to come in. The little girl came in excited. "Breakfast!"

"We'll be down in a minute."

"Elphaba, you look chubby!"

Elphaba laughed and buried her face in her hands.

"Lali!" Fiyero scolded. "Don't say that."

"But she's pregnant. Of course she looks chubby."

Fiyero sighed and rubbed Elphaba's back lightly. "Elphie, she…"

"Don't." Elphaba was laughing still. "Lali, do I really look chubby, or is it just my tummy?"

"It's just your tummy. And your…" Lali gestured to her chest.

Elphaba snorted. "That's because they're filling with milk to feed the new baby with. Babies can't eat older people food right away."

"They can't?"

"They can't." Elphaba nodded.

"I didn't know that." Said Lali.

"Well, now you know."

"When I grow and have babies, will I look like that, too?"

"Yes. Well, aside from the green skin." Replied Elphaba.

"Do you feel really big?"

"A bit. Now, would you let us get ready for the day?"

"I'll see you in a few minutes" The little girl bounded back down the stairs.

Elphaba turned to Fiyero, who kissed her stomach and helped her up from the bed. "Come on. It's time to eat. And you're eating for two now. Let's take good care of this baby."


	9. Chapter 9: Love, Marriage and a Baby

Chapter Nine: Love, Marriage and a Baby Carriage 

"How is she?" Fiyero's mother asked when he walked into the room after a long while.

"How is she? Still in labor." He began pacing uncomfortably around the room. "It's taking way too long. I've got to go make sure she's all right."

His mother watched as he exited the room and sighed. "I hope she's all right."

Lali, who was sitting on the couch next to her mother, asked, "Why wouldn't she be all right?"

Not wanting to scare the girl, the elder woman said, "No reason. But every once in a while, things don't go as planned."

"Does that mean Elphaba could die?" The little girl's eyes went wide.

"Don't worry about that, Lali, honey."

"I like Elphaba."

"So do I, sweetheart. Now, don't worry. I'm sure she's fine."

When Fiyero came back into the room, his face was grave. "It's not going so well."

Worried, his mother stood up and went to her eldest son. "What is it?"

"The midwife says they're going to have to…" Fiyero made a cutting gesture around his stomach.

"How is she doing?"

"Not happy about the way things are going. And I can't blame her."

"I had to have the same procedure with Lali. It's not so bad. Tell her that for me, will you?"

"They're already in the middle of it."

"What?"

"I didn't want to worry you, so I've been in there. I just couldn't stand it." He circled the room several times and then sat down with his forehead resting in his palms. "I still can't stand it, even in here."

His mother rubbed his back soothingly. "She'll get through this."

"She's never going to let me near her again if there's even a chance she could get pregnant again."

"That's what birth control is for, honey."

"I know." Fiyero threw his hands down, aggravated. "I hate this."

"It's going to be just fine."

"Right."

A few minutes later, the midwife knocked on the door and gestured to Fiyero to follow her. He threw his mother a worried look and then went back into the part of the castle where Elphaba was.

The next time he entered the room, he looked as if the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders. "Everything went fine."

"Yay!" Shouted Lali, not having said much since Fiyero had exited the room the first time. "Can we see her?"

"Mom, do you two want to see her?" Fiyero asked.

"And the baby?"

Fiyero nodded.

"Of course." Lali and Fiyero's mother were led into a room further back in the castle.

Fiyero said, before letting them into the room, "Mom, I've got a surprise for you."

His mother cocked her head, confused.

"Go see Elphaba."

"Mommy, look! There are two babies!" Yelled Lali.

Fiyero's mother looked back at him. "Twins?"

He smiled proudly. "Yes."

The three of them crowded around the bed where Elphaba sat with a baby in each arm. Fiyero's mother whispered, "They're so sweet."

Elphaba looked up. "Aren't they?"

"A boy and a girl." Fiyero said, sitting next to Elphaba on the side of the bed and draping a loving arm around her.

"What are their names?"

Elphaba looked at Fiyero, nodding at him to answer. "The boy's name is Dendrio and the girl's name is…"

"Galinda." Elphaba laughed.

"Like Auntie Glinda?" Asked Lali.

"Yes, except it's _Ga_linda."

"She's going to kill you for that." Fiyero pretended to scold Elphaba.

"I think she'll laugh. And so what? If she doesn't like it, she can deal with it."

"That's my Fae."

Elphaba looked down at her children. "Do you want to say hi to your grandma? Yes? Okay." She handed the boy to Fiyero's mother.

She laughed good-naturedly. "I feel old. I'm a grandmother. It's so odd."

Fiyero and Elphaba were still cooing at the girl, when Lali interrupted. "Can I hold her?"

Elphaba bit her lip for a moment, not sure if she should trust the little ten year old as capable of holding a child the right way. "If you hold her right. Let me show you." She showed Lali how to keep the baby's head propped up the right way and handed the baby to Lali. At once, realizing how exhausted she was, Elphaba laid back in the bed.

"How are you feeling, Fae?"

"Tired as hell."

"Hell?" Lali repeated

"I mean… oh, I'm going to have to get used to holding back certain words, aren't I, Yero?"

Fiyero nodded. "Do you want to attempt to take care of these two just you and me or would you rather hire two nurses and make it easier on both of us?"

"Nurses. Though, for the first few nights, I'd like to take care of them myself."

It was late the next night and Fiyero woke to the sound of one of the babies crying. "Elphie?"

She buried her head in the pillow.

"Fae, you have to get up and take care of them."

"Call the damned nurses."

Fiyero grinned. "I knew you'd change your mind."

"Leave me alone about it."

Elphaba was leaving the nursery one morning, heading to the bedroom she shared with Fiyero, and stopped outside the door.

"We shouldn't be doing this. Especially not here." Came a woman's husky voice behind the door.

"Who cares? No one has to know." Came a strangely familiar male voice.

"I know, but what if someone walks in?"

"No one will walk in."

"You're too sure of yourself."

"I'm also sure I can make you scream."

The rest of the noises that came from the room were softer, whispers, murmurs and such. Elphaba, horrified, headed straight for her library.

Fiyero came in after a few hours, looking somewhat sweaty. She wouldn't look at him. "Fae?"

"Hmm?" She kept her face in the book she was trying to distract herself with.

"Are you coming to bed?"

"I'm really into this book. It might be late. Go on up without me."

He stared at her, but she refused to acknowledge anything more than the usual. Confused, he headed upstairs.

She'd spent the day trying to find a logical reason for what she'd heard, but there was none. Of course, she'd refused to cry or let him know how he was hurting her. If he'd rather have someone his own color, let him have her. But he wouldn't have Elphaba on the side as well. That much she would not put up with.

Fiyero was too bothered by Elphaba's behavior to notice how ruffled the bed sheets were that night. He only began to notice things later, and then he began to believe he knew why Elphaba was being so distant.

She began spending more of her time in the nursery with her children, telling herself that at least they would love her, even if Fiyero did not.

"Fae?" He was in the doorway of the nursery, looking at her, realizing she never looked that happy when she was with him – not anymore, at least.

"What?"

"Why don't you let Dendrio and Galinda go to bed and we can get some sleep. It's been a while since we've really…"

"I don't feel like it." She sighed miserably, missing the man she could tell her problems to. But she could no longer tell him her woes, not when the problem that was tearing at her heart _was_ he.

He shook his head and walked out of the room, too tired to deal with whatever it was that was wrong. When he climbed into the bed, he noticed that the sheets were warm. That was odd. It looked as if something had gone on in the room only hours ago. What could possibly have…? Not unless Elphaba was growing even further away from him than he worried.

Bothered further, he tore the sheets from the bed and put them in the wash, unable to sleep in the sheets that the woman he loved had possibly used earlier in the day and not with him. Why would she do this to him? Was he not satisfying her? Was he paying too little attention to her? Was it too late to fix?

Elphaba noted the sheets had been cleaned the next morning when she went into their room to get dressed. She tore her gaze away from the bed and slept in the library again that night, spending the day with her babies.

As she headed upstairs to fetch a nightgown, an all too familiar scene caught her ears again.

"We don't belong in this bed. I don't feel right. Some other woman should be lying in this bed."

"She sleeps in other rooms these days."

"Do you think someone suspects?"

"Perhaps."

"Maybe we should do this somewhere else. It _is _disrespectful to do it in here."

"Are you kidding me? This room would probably never see action if it weren't for us!"

"Aren't you funny?" Said the woman sarcastically.

"I can make you giggle."

"Why now?"

"Because certain people aren't in the room, that's why."

"What if that certain person or people were in the room?"

"I'd do it anyway. I'm tired of hiding."

"Me, too. Maybe we should just…"

"No, we can't! We're not married. You know this is wrong."

"I don't care!"

"I do. We're not going to reveal this."

"What if I refuse to do anything, then?"

"Don't do this."

"I will."

"Come on, that's not fair."

"I think it is."

"But you know we can't tell anyone."

"Why not?"

"I told you, we aren't married."

"That doesn't matter. We could get married."

"No we can't. Not yet. There are complications to deal with."

"And how do you plan on fixing that, my darling?"

"I'll figure it out."

"I doubt that."

"Come on, just please? It's not like you're not going to give in."

"I won't."

She heard the sheets move. The man's voice threatened, "I'll tickle you."

A giggle. "Don't!"

A grunt. "Come on…"

The rest was all screams and moans. Elphaba shrugged to herself and went into her library, determined to forget what she heard. He was unfaithful. That was the only solution. Well, it would only figure she'd get what was coming to her. Her mother had been unfaithful and now it was the man's turn. Was it a curse on the family women to have some sort of infidelity going on?

She fell asleep tossing and turning on the library couch, her books splayed around her and her clothes a mess, for she had never retrieved the nightgown she had meant to get.

In the early morning, after finding the bed a mess yet again, Fiyero finally decided he would talk to Elphaba. He knew where he'd find her.

There was a knock at the door. "Come in," Elphaba called.

"How have you been?"

"Fine. You?"

"We're talking like we don't even love each other anymore, Fae. What is wrong?"

"What's wrong? You're asking _me_ what's wrong?"

"Well, who else is there to ask?"

"Look in the mirror!"

"What do I have to do with anything?"

"You are what's wrong."

"Am I not good enough, Fae, is that it?"

"What? Ha! Not good enough? I should be asking you the same."

Suddenly he started to realize what was going on. "Fae, I think we need to clear some things up here."

"No we don't. Believe me, everything is perfectly clear."

"That's what you think."

"I know what's going on, Fiyero. I'm not stupid."

"No, you're not. We're both very confused." He sat down on the couch next to her.

She scooted away. "Don't."

"Why?"

"You know why."

"What if I'm not so sure I do?"

"I don't want you touching me. You've had your fill already today, I'm sure. Just not with me."

"What?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

"Not exactly. But I think I know what you think you're talking about."

"Just go away. I understand you don't want me." Elphaba fought back the tears that had been threatening for the two weeks that suspicion had been roused.

"I do want you. I thought you didn't want me."

She blinked slowly. "Then why are _you…_? You're not, are you?"

He shook his head.

Suddenly, she burst into tears and hugged him fiercely. "I thought…"

"I know what you thought. I thought the same thing of you."

She pulled away. "You _what_?"

He pulled her back into his arms. "Shhh. It doesn't matter now." Gently, he wiped her tears away.

"Yero, oh Yero, I hated you. I hated you for no good reason."

"We just need to sort one thing out now."

"What?"

"Who _is_ doing something wrong in _our_ bed?"

She laughed, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I don't care. I don't care at all. All I want right now is you." Her lips met his in a fiery, passionate kiss. "I've stayed away from you for so long because of this. All for nothing. I want to make up for this."

"Right here?" He raised his eyebrows.

She got up, locked the library doors and jumped over him on the couch. "Right here, right now."

He began kissing her, blazing kisses down her body. They fell back into the couch, making love with a sizzling yearning, scorching passion they'd held back for two weeks all sweltering into itself.

She was asleep next to him on the couch when midnight came, their bodies tired and sore from a full day of lovemaking. From what he could remember through the heat, they'd made love more than four times since mid-afternoon, and many other times before then, starting with the first time in the early hours of the morning. They'd made love in every way he'd ever allowed himself to imagine and more. It was as he was recalling the bliss in which they'd spent the day that he heard giggling and a deep laughter that sounded oddly familiar, coming from above him, from _their_ bedroom.

"Fae, wake up."

"Fiyero, not again. I am so sore I can barely…"

"No, not that. Listen."

She was quiet. "Oh my god."

"You hear that?"

"Yes."

"Why don't we go find out what's _really_ been going on?"

"Yero, I'm so sorry for thinking what I thought."

"I know. And I am, too. Consider it forgotten."

"I don't feel like I've really shown you how sorry I am."

"Believe me, Fae, in the past sixteen hours, you have."

She giggled helplessly. "Ugh. Too sore to get up."

"You're going to have to. Come on. Don't you want to find out what's happening up there?"

She nodded and groaned, getting up. "Let's go."

Together, they headed towards their bedroom, leaning against one another wearily. Holding their breath, they each put a hand on the doorknob and swung the door open.

Sidrio and one of the slave girls looked up from the bed guiltily. Elphaba gasped and Fiyero glared.

"What in Oz?" Fiyero began.

"Uh, we're sorry?" Fiyero's youngest brother tried to look innocent, but to no avail.

"What do you think you were doing in our bedroom?" Fiyero shouted.

"We couldn't go anywhere else. It'd be noticed. I just figured… since the sheets in here would already be messed up enough, considering you two are married, no one would really suspect us like they would if we went somewhere else." Sidrio stammered.

The servant girl was holding her hands up, covering herself scantily and Elphaba put a hand on Fiyero's shoulder. "Let them get dressed, at least."

When the two young lovers had gotten dressed, Fiyero grabbed his youngest brother and dragged him into his study. "We're going to have a nice little discussion downstairs."

This left Elphaba and the servant girl alone in the room. "I'm sorry." The servant girl said. "I told him we shouldn't be in here…"

"But things happen." Elphaba said. "You're forgiven. But you two have no idea how much pain you've caused."

"What do you mean?" Asked the servant girl innocently.

Elphaba only laughed and shook her head. "It doesn't matter anymore. It really doesn't matter at all anymore."

**AN: I'm so proud of myself. Updating EVERYTHING in time for Christmas. Who loves me? I better get lots of reviews. And I hope they're nice reviews, though that I cannot control. If you hate it, tell me. I personally liked this chapter. It's not my favorite, but it's not my least favorite, either. For all of you who read my other stories, they've all been updated, too! And there's a whole new story based on the musical! Yeah, this better be a good Christmas, lol. Merry Christmas, readers!**


	10. Chapter 10: An Engagement

Chapter Ten: An Engagement 

"Yero, darling, you shouldn't punish him so harshly."

"Why not? Look what he did! For Oz's sake, Elphaba, what don't you understand?"

"What I _do_ understand is that they're in love." She retorted. "She loves him. He loves her. So what if they got us into a little disagreement?"

"Fae, we barely spoke to each other for two weeks!"

"But…"

"And, if you don't remember, he's supposed to be married to someone else! His marriage has already been arranged for him."

Elphaba let baby Galinda claw at the hair that hung out of the loose ponytail she'd tied it in. The baby sat on her lap and Elphaba was bouncing her maternally as Fiyero held Dendrio, who was poking him for lack of attention. "You're going to yell at your brother for breaking the oath of an arranged marriage? Does his situation not sound familiar to you?" Elphaba laughed.

Fiyero paused and shook his head. "You win."

"I always do."

"Oh, no you don't."

"I do."

"If it weren't for these two, I'd have you crying for mercy right about now." Fiyero threatened.

Elphaba rolled her eyes. "Everything is an allusion to sex with you, isn't it?"

"This entire situation consists of sex." Fiyero replied. "Anyway, as I was saying, Sidrio has still completely disobeyed the house rules. He and that servant girl…"

"She has a name. Her name is Vernia."

"Whatever. They had sex in _our_ bedroom. They're not allowed to be in there at all."

"And where did we first have sex? Your dorm. Were we allowed to be in there together? No." Elphaba said simply.

"At least it was _mine_."

"That's true. But we were lucky. Go easy on them, Fiyero. They're in love."

"What am I supposed to tell my mother about Sidrio and his arranged marriage, huh? Am I supposed to tell her the truth?"

"Yes! She'll understand. She understood with us, remember?"

He sighed. "We didn't cause fights."

"I agree they need to be dealt with. You're right, we should punish them. But we cannot tear them apart."

"I'm king, here. Don't forget that."

"And I am your wife, not to mention your queen." Elphaba snapped. "Yero, we just finished fighting over something pointless. Let's not get into another fight, please."

"Of course not, my Fae. But I still disagree with your idea of punishment. Grounding my little brother will do him no good."

"It'll teach him not to use our bedroom again." Elphaba cradled baby Galinda in her arms and kissed the baby's forehead.

The sight of her so tender and maternal softened his initial anger. "Fine. I see where you're going. But you have to let me be in charge with this. He is my brother, after all."

"Had it been Lali, you would never even think to punish her this way."

"No, I'd kill the bastard who was using her."

"Overprotective." Elphaba teased in a singsong voice.

"Look, you know as well as I do how adolescent boys can be."

"Fiyero, he's not an adolescent anymore. He's a year younger than we were. Calm down."

Fiyero picked up his six-month-old son and placed him back in the cradle. "Come on. We have some punishments to deal out."

"Promise me you'll be easy on them?" Elphaba held baby Galinda tight against her chest.

"I promise."

Elphaba put Galinda in her cradle and dusted herself off. "Are you going to let them be together?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Not really. You'd be a hypocrite if you didn't."

Sidrio and Vernia were sitting solemnly in the living room when Elphaba and Fiyero came in. "So," Fiyero said, "anything you two have to say for yourselves?"

Elphaba snorted.

He glared at her. She was undermining his authority! "What?"

"Sound familiar?" Elphaba giggled uncontrollably.

Fiyero only cocked his head. "What?"

"Morrible and Saned. The day we got caught."

Sidrio perked up, "Who got caught? Doing what?"

"Elphaba! Look what you've done. I'm never going to be able to finish doling out punishment if you keep…" He broke into laughter, too. "Damn it."

Elphaba took over. "Okay, you two. We understand that things can get out of control sometimes, especially when you love one another. But it was very wrong of you to use our bedroom as a place for sex. I overheard you one night. Do you know that? And do you know what I thought? Well… never you mind that. It doesn't matter. You have to learn what's crossing the line and what's not. And using our bedroom was crossing the line. Sidrio, Fiyero's going to talk with your mother about evading that marriage you're trapped in - "

"Yes!" Sidrio hugged Vernia, who was laughing.

"But you are not out of hot water, all right?"

They nodded soberly.

"You are not to leave your room except for meals and any family activity for a month, and you, Vernia, are not to visit him. Vernia, you're on clean up duty for the next month. And you can start with the blankets in the library."

Fiyero nodded, having come back to himself. "If I ever catch you two in any room you shouldn't be again, I will make sure of it that you two aren't allowed to see each other again. So you're off the hook for now. Just keep it that way. I don't want to have to separate you two anymore than you want me to. Vernia, you probably won't be a servant for much longer, but as long as you are, get started cleaning. Sidrio, go to your bedroom now."

The two lovers looked at each other, stole a quick hug and were off to their separate punishments.

"Well," said Elphaba, "I think we handled that quite well, don't you?"

"_You_ handled it more than I did."

"That's because you lost control."

"I wouldn't have if you hadn't had to bring up Shiz."

"I couldn't help it!"

"And telling her to clean the blankets in the library…"

"I thought that was very fitting. They created the mess. I figured I might as well make them clean up what was left of fixing it."

"I don't think it's quite fixed yet, Elphie my love."

"Are you suggesting something?"

"Yes, I am." He took her hand and, though it was a bit late, they went to bed.

Sidrio and Vernia were married one cool fall day two months later. The day was nice, the wedding was held outside, and it rained lightly. Since the rain was light, the wedding stayed where it was, except the king and queen of the tribe had to stay inside. Sidrio and Vernia were to have a similar honeymoon to Elphaba and Fiyero's, except it was to be shorter and a lesser section of the castle was to be taken up, as they were not to be king and queen, but still part of the royal family.

The reception and dinner were held inside the castle, in the royal dining room. At the table of the royal family, the conversation was giddy.

"So, when are you two going to make me a grandmother?" Fiyero's mother joked.

Vernia practically spat out her drink – which was not champagne, for one isn't supposed to have alcoholic beverages when carrying a child – and Elphaba smiled as she sipped her champagne. Earlier in the week, Vernia had confided in Elphaba that she was two and a half months pregnant. This was something no one but Vernia, Sidrio and Elphaba knew. Out of respect, Elphaba had withheld this information even from Fiyero, who'd have been angry had he known. After she swallowed her water, Vernia said, slyly, "Oh, I don't know."

Sidrio, who'd behaved calmer about the whole ordeal, joked, "We'll be trying very hard, starting tonight."

Elphaba commented, "You sound like him on _our_ wedding night," she gestured to Fiyero.

Sidrio really did spit out his champagne. "I didn't need to know that."

"Sid, be careful! You almost got that all over my dress!" Vernia said angrily.

"Sorry, dearest."

Elphaba whispered to Sidrio, "After what we had to deal with, walking in on you two, you deserve to know a _lot_."

"Not tonight, we don't." Sidrio replied.

She nodded in agreement. Fiyero slid an arm around Elphaba's waist. "Time for the king and queen to start the dancing." He swept her off her feet.

Lying in bed that night, Elphaba decided it might be the time to warn Fiyero that Sidrio and Vernia were expecting. "Yero?"

"Yeah?"

She kissed his chest in the dark and murmured, "She's pregnant, you know that, right?"

"I could've guessed."

"Really?"

"She was acting very _familiar_."

"I saw no difference."

"You women can't tell."

"Believe me, it was obvious to me she was pregnant, but only because I _am_ a woman." Elphaba told him.

"You're ignorant to the other signs. The poor thing threw up this morning. She's a bit young, isn't she?"

"They're younger than we were when everything happened at Shiz, so, yes, they're younger than we are. But I think she'll be fine."

"You're probably right."

"She'll be a good mother."

"Sidrio, on the other hand, might not make the greatest father."

"He'll do fine."

"I hope. But, in case they emotionally scar their child, I think we should have another."

"Very funny. What you really want is sex."

"Yeah, you caught me."

Glinda had tried to come out for Sidrio and Vernia's wedding, but she'd been held back for some reason she neglected to tell Elphaba about. She said she'd come out for the twin's birthday, and she'd be bringing someone along.

"Do we have room for that?"

"She said they'd stay in the same room."

"She's hiding something."

"For sure." Elphaba said. "But, that's okay. I've managed to hide our daughter's name from her for almost an entire year."

When she rang the doorbell, even Lali had been waiting in excitement to see "Auntie Glinda" and her guest. Fiyero and Elphaba couldn't have been more shocked.

"Boq?" Fiyero said after opening the door.

"What is he doing here?" Elphaba asked, confused.

"I'll tell you all about it later." Glinda waved Elphaba's question away. "Now, let us get settled and I am dying to see your little ones!"

A servant girl (the servant girl who'd taken Vernia's place, in fact) took Boq and Glinda's luggage and Elphaba led Glinda to the nursery, Boq and Fiyero bringing up the rear.

"So, exactly what is going on?" Fiyero asked Boq in a low voice.

"Glinda will say something soon. She can't hide things for very long."

Fiyero raised his eyebrows but continued following the women up the stairs.

"Look, Fiyero, I don't know if I've ever told you how sorry I am about the way I behaved back at Shiz."

"You mean right after our last winter holidays? About Elphie? Don't apologize, it's not anyone's fault. I understand how you felt."

"But, you see, I was never really in love with Elphie. It's just that she's like a sister to me and I'm a bit protective. I've always been in love with someone else." Boq glanced up the stairs towards Glinda.

"I could've guessed."

Boq only smiled.

When they entered the nursery, Glinda squealed. "Oh, they're so cute!"

"That's Dendrio and the girl is," Elphaba made a dramatic pause, "Galinda."

"You didn't!" Glinda squeaked.

"I did."

"I can't believe you!"

"Uh, sorry?"

"Sorry? Don't be sorry! Elphie, I'm honored."

"Oh, god, here she goes."

"You named your daughter after me. That truly makes me feel special." Glinda beamed down at the little girl. "If we have daughters…"

"If you and _who_, Glinda?" Asked Elphaba, pretty sure of the answer.

"Oh, Boq and me. We're engaged."

**AN: It's so strange. This was the one that took the longest to update, and now I've got TWO new chapters. Do you like? I always thought Glinda and Boq would be kind of cute. Merry Christmas!**


	11. Chapter 11: Pink

**Chapter Eleven: Pink**

"Okay, so the wedding is going to be themed," Glinda sat down at the coffee table with Elphaba.

"And how?"

"Pink!"

"Oh, dear god." Elphaba groaned.

"You haven't even heard the best part!"

"I don't think I want to."

"You're going to be my maid of honor."

"Really?" Elphaba hadn't expected this.

"Yes. And your dress…"

"…is going to be pink?" Elphaba balked.

"You'll live."

"I will not. I will not wear pink. Come on, why me?"

"I thought you'd be proud to be my maid of honor, Elphie."

"I am. It's just… pink… is not my favorite color."

"It'll look cute on you. I'm sure you've worn pink before."

"I have a pink nightgown that I wore once because the servants were on vacation." Elphaba said.

"I'm sure it looked fine on you." Glinda coaxed.

"It did not. Even ask Fiyero."

Fiyero looked up from the card game he and Boq were avidly playing. "What?"

"Remember that one week, near the end of last summer, and the nightgown I wore was _pink_, and I was horrified?"

"Yeah?"

"Wasn't it horrifying?"

"Um, no comment."

"See? Even he agrees!" Elphaba argued.

"I just don't remember what the nightgown looked like _on_ you." He admitted.

"What do you mean on me?"

"All I remember is what it looked like on the floor."

"Men." Glinda and Elphaba said in unison, sighing.

"Sorry." Fiyero said.

Elphaba hugged herself self-consciously and turned back to Glinda. "So, where is this lovely wedding going to be, anyway?"

"At my family's summer home in Gillikin." Glinda answered.

"That's a long way away from Kiamo Ko." Fiyero commented.

"You'll have to come out early. We have a small guesthouse. I can make sure to reserve it for you two, if you'd like."

Elphaba was about to refuse, but Fiyero said, "That'd be very kind of you, Glinda."

Elphaba glared at Fiyero, who waved her look away. "The maid of honor dress will have to be fitted. I'm sure no dressmaker in Gillikin deals with my proportions every day." She said sardonically.

"Hey!" Fiyero scolded from across the room. "I happen to like your proportions."

"I never said there was anything wrong with them." Elphaba replied. "I'm just… very thin and bony. It's not all that attractive. Don't even start," she warned Fiyero.

He shook his head and stared at her, eying her figure. "You don't even give me a chance to defend my taste."

"Fine, fine. Both of you stop it." Glinda said. "Now, Fiyero, what color do you think she'd look best in?"

"Green."

"Why?" Glinda asked.

"Or black, I guess. Green because that's the color she is and that's the color she'll always be, clothed or not. But black works well, too."

"She will not wear black to my wedding! And the only green that won't clash is the color of her skin, and I'd have to have an entire month with her out at my place early to have that made."

"She looks nice in red."

"Where is that coming from?"

"That one little nightie thing she wore on our honeymoon."

"Fiyero!" Elphaba buried her face in her hands, embarrassed.

"Purple, too." He added, before blushing and shutting his mouth.

"I cannot believe he just said that." Elphaba stood.

"Fae, calm down."

"And you probably don't even remember! I haven't worn that thing since our honeymoon. And I haven't worn it for a reason."

"Because I told you it looked…"

"Stop." Glinda spoke one word loud and clear.

Elphaba blinked and sat back down. "Tell him that."

"How _did _you tell her it looked, anyway?"

"Nothing she wanted to hear." Was all Fiyero would say.

Boq spoke up. "If this is what married life is like, I'm starting to get a little afraid."

Glinda nodded in agreement.

Fiyero stole his way behind Elphaba and wrapped his arms around her. "It's not what you think. We love each other, don't we?"

"Most of the time," Elphaba smiled.

"We're happy. At least I am," Fiyero said.

"I am, too."

He kissed her and then plopped comfortably on the couch next to her. "Would you look at this? We're fighting like an elderly married couple and we're only twenty-three."

"But it's fun." Elphaba opined.

"And we're still just like we were before. Except now we have two kids."

"Two _beautiful_ kids, might I add?" Glinda smiled at Elphaba. "And they were named beautifully, too."

"Do you two ever get bored of each other?" Boq asked.

"Never." Elphaba answered.

"We go through enough new things every day that I could never be bored of her. She surprises me more all the time." Fiyero said.

"And he finds new ways to drive me up the wall."

"And new ways to…"

"That is not their business!"

"Sorry, Fae."

"I love you, Yero."

"I love you, too, Fae."

Boq and Glinda laughed, watching their friends share a sweet kiss and then lean into one another. "Do you two act like this daily?"

"Yes." Elphaba giggled. "And I love it. And I love him. There's nothing in this world that means more to me than he does."

Glinda made a face and Elphaba backed up, trying to rephrase her comment, but both women understood what Elphaba had been trying to say.

"It's getting late." Said Elphaba.

"Should we put you two in separate rooms or have you already…?" Fiyero asked.

"Fiyero, darling, that was not an appropriate thing to ask!"

"Well, how else am I supposed to know what to do with our guests, Elphaba?"

"Ask."

"I did."

"You didn't need to add the last part!"

"It's implied." He grabbed Elphaba by the waist and practically fastened her to his side. "Now stop."

Glinda said, "We'll be fine either way, thank you."

Fiyero and Elphaba shared a private look and then both of them shrugged; he called to one of the servants, told them Boq and Glinda would be staying in the same room (for he guessed that "either way" meant they'd probably prefer the same room but were too embarrassed to ask).

Elphaba was standing at her dresser when Fiyero came into the room that night. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for something."

Fiyero came up behind her and kissed her cheek. "Come to bed."

She sighed and turned around, holding something in her fist. "Remember this?"

"It looks good on you, Fae. As much as you don't want to hear it."

"It does not."

"You're right. It looks better on the floor. Now come to bed."

She rolled her eyes and hugged him. "You know I love you, right?"

"Why would I ever doubt it?"

"I don't know. You doubted it when you thought that I was being unfaithful."

"Well, we were both a little confused, then. You thought the same thing, remember that. But you know now that I'd never love anyone else, right?"

"Oh, my Yero..." She whispered softly, looking at his eyes.

He smiled and kissed her. "Need help getting ready for bed?" He took the nightgown out of her hand.

"Why? You're only going to undress me again, anyway." She took it back and tossed it away, wrapping her arms around his neck and smiling back at him. "I could use a good loving right about now."

"We've been married more than a year now and I'm still so in love with you that I'm afraid of it. I still want you every night, I still love you every morning, nothing changes. I was so worried things would change and our love would get dull, but it's the same." Fiyero said.

"I imagine it must get dull for some couples."

"But not us."

"No, never for us."

"That just shows that you and me, we're more than just in love."

"What are we?"

"I don't know," he said, lifting her by the waist and placing her on the bed, "but I love it."

"We're in love with being in love." Elphaba said, lying down and motioning him for him to lay next to her.

He climbed over her, lifting the skirt of her dress, tenderly pulling it off. "Well, whatever we are, it doesn't matter. I love you."

She whimpered as their bodies came together, as they did so often, and murmured, "I love you, too."

She was lying, sprawled out in the bed, taking up most of the space. It was morning and Fiyero gently lifted the mess of her hair that was splayed across his face and placed it on the bed as he got up. He paused getting dressed, staring at Elphaba without the blanket, knowing this vision was a blessing, for she was self-conscious and refused to let him stare at her for too long. Pressing his hands against her body, he caused her to moan in her sleep and stretch out across the bed even further. "Fae?"

She blinked wearily and looked up at her husband. "Good morning, love."

"Good morning." He went back to getting dressed.

"Hey! Forget that and get back in bed." Elphaba grinned.

"You are going to wear me out one of these days." He warned her.

"I doubt it. You'll wear me out first."

At breakfast, Glinda was looking a little ruffled and Elphaba almost snorted her way through her food, getting glares from Glinda all the while. After they'd eaten, Elphaba pulled Glinda aside, "So, what's it like?" She teased.

"Very funny," said Glinda, in a huff.

"You're funny." Elphaba replied.

"Don't even talk to me! You and Fiyero probably had sex last night."

"We're married, we do that a lot." Elphaba laughed.

"Well… you did before, too."

"I know." Elphaba conceded. "You admit that you and Boq…?"

"I refuse to admit anything." Glinda pushed Elphaba back into the room where Fiyero and Boq were sitting in silence, silent not because they were in any sort of disagreement, but because they were in that sort of silence that males can sit in the same room and share and two females cannot. Women need to talk. Men, sometimes, don't find the same need to.

Fiyero looked over at Elphaba, who was smirking. "What, Fae?"

"Nothing." She replied smugly, slipping into his arms. The two couples headed into the living room and relaxed.

Fiyero, with his arm around Elphaba, kissed her. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

"I know. You wouldn't stop repeating that last night." Fiyero winked at Boq, who had Glinda resting on his shoulder.

Boq laughed and both of the women looked at the men, confused, they then made eye contact with each other, shrugged and went back to their mindless chatter. At noon, Elphaba got up to go check on the twins, and Glinda went with her.

"You're lucky." Galinda told her.

"Why?"

"You found someone when you were still so young."

Elphaba laughed, picking up baby Galinda. "We're still pretty young, if you ask me. So don't feel so sad. I always knew you liked Boq."

"I didn't always like him."

"You did, too." Elphaba smiled. "Even when you wouldn't admit it."

"Well, I knew you always like Fiyero."

"Of course, you did, Glinda. He wasn't around long before he and I got together, anyway."

"You were obvious."

"I wasn't really, was I?"

Glinda smirked. "I thought you were at times."

"Well, whatever." Elphaba set baby Galinda down after rocking her for a moment and picked up Dendrio. "Hey, baby."

The boy looked up silently at his mother and smiled.

"He's so sweet."

"They're both adorable, aren't they?" Asked Elphaba.

"Yeah."

"I'll bet you can't wait to have kids."

"I'm going to name one of them after you, just because you named baby Galinda after me."

"As long as you don't expect me to be some sort of godmother to it."

"You'd make a good godmother, Elphaba."

"Right."

In no time, it had been two weeks and Glinda and Boq were to leave. "I'll send you an invitation to the wedding and you'll come out early, right?"

"I guess." Shrugged Elphaba.

"We will." Fiyero confirmed.

"Will you be bringing the twins?"

"We can have a nurse take care of them."

"All right. You're welcome to bring them."

"That's all right. Just one more thing, Glinda."

"What?"

"Is my dress still going to have to be pink?"

"Yes."

"Damn."

**AN: Come join my WICKED forum, the link is in my profile. Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and the interactions. Thanks!**


	12. Chapter 12: Unforeseen Complications

**AN: Finally, I'm updating this one! I hope to update some others soon, but I totally got myself stuck on a s-e-x scene in "Romance at Shiz" and other stuff in others. I do hope to update the others soon. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this!**

**Chapter Twelve: Unforeseen Complications**

Fiyero and Elphaba took the train out to Gillikin, and the ride was more time consuming than the long ago winter break trip from Shiz to the Vinkus.

"I'm out of books," Elphaba sighed, entering the apartment after a journey into the public compartments of the train in search of a library that did not exist.

"No, you're not. You've only read half!" Fiyero protested, looking away from the window, on which he'd been tracing patterns with nothing better to do.

"I'm saving half for the trip back. I might buy a book or two from the Gillikin bookstores, too, for I've finished half and we still have a day or two." Elphaba sat down next to Fiyero and rested her head on his shoulder affectionately. "I love you."

"I love you, too." Fiyero smiled.

"And I love our life. I don't know what I would've done if you'd never gotten me drunk." She laughed.

"I liked you, drunk or not, Fae."

"I was seriously just _asking_ for you to get me drunk, that's how much I liked you. I remember when you asked if I wanted to go get a drink I was all too happy to accept."

"Too bad we can't remember anything more than that. We're probably missing out on a damn good memory, too."

Elphaba, grinning, said, "I'm sure we've made up for it with _other_ memories."

"We have." Fiyero agreed happily. "Want to make one more?"

Elphaba giggled. "We're on a train."

"That works. The movement of the train can only add to the fun."

Elphaba rolled her eyes. "Yero my hero, I love you."

"I know you do. And I love you. Now, we've got our own little compartment here, why not?"

She laughed. "Well, if you so insist."

"I want you to insist, Fae." He told her, already beginning to open the back of her dress and kissing her.

"Mmmm hmm. I insist, I insist," she murmured, and was lost again. She and Fiyero had no difficulties in making the next two days go by quickly.

Glinda was more than a little excited to see Elphaba when they finally arrived.

"Elphie! Elphie! Finally, you're here. We've got to have you fitted for your dress and so on and so forth. And then you've got to meet my family. And then…"

"Whoa, whoa," Fiyero interrupted, "When do I get my scheduled alone time with my wife?"

Elphaba glared at Fiyero. "Later."

He sighed and shrugged as Glinda dragged Elphaba around the grounds of her home in Gillikin. "Have fun."

"I will." Elphaba mouthed.

Fiyero slinked back against the carriage that had taken them from the train station to Glinda's home. Boq came to greet him then. "Hey." He glanced towards the wandering Munchkinlander, who did not seem at all surprised that Glinda had already disappeared with Elphaba.

"Hey. How are you and Elphaba doing?"

"Good. The ride was long. How have you been?"

"Fine."

"That's good."

"Yup."

In the kitchen of Glinda's mansion, Glinda ran around hurriedly. "Oh, Elphaba," she handed her an envelope, "this came for you from Fiyero's mother yesterday."

"What on earth?" Elphaba opened the letter. "Oh, no."

"What?"

"Dendrio is very sick." Elphaba read aloud. "Where's Fiyero?" She headed right back out the door that Glinda had led her in only moments ago.

Glinda stayed behind to clean up the kitchen, which didn't need much cleaning, but by the time she caught up to Elphaba, Fiyero was arguing with her. "We can't just go home."

"Do you understand this? He's sick. What if something happens?"

"Nothing's going to happen, Elphaba."

"If something happened to him and I wasn't there, I couldn't forgive myself. Fiyero, read this. Your mother obviously thinks it's serious." She thrust the letter at him.

"Leave?" Glinda murmured.

"Oh, Glinda, I'm so sorry, but I can't let my son…"

"It's all right. You two can be back here in time for the actual wedding, right?"

"Of course. I guess someone else will just have to be your maid of honor, though, Glinda." Elphaba nodded sadly, secretly rejoicing that she may not be forced to wear the dreaded pink gown after all.

"It's all right. We'll see what we can do. Please don't leave tonight."

Elphaba looked reluctant. "I…"

Fiyero looked away from the letter. "Fae…"

"All right. But tomorrow morning," she looked at Fiyero pointedly.

"All right. Whatever makes you happy."

She struggled to smile. "Thanks."

It took Fiyero until later to realize she was a lot more worried than she let on. She couldn't sleep that night, though the bed in the guest bedroom that Glinda led them to was commodious and soft. "Fae? Are you okay?"

"Mmmm hmm. Just fine." She lied.

"I can see through that."

"How?"

"From more than a year of marriage, you're not that good at hiding things with me as you are with other people."

She sighed. "I'm just a little nervous, that's all."

He hugged her. "He's fine."

"What if he's not?"

"Don't worry about it."

"What if he was born with some sickness we never knew about and it's only just coming on him now? What if baby Galinda has it, too?" Some sort of horror seemed to hit her and then she exclaimed, "Oh, no! What if you're mother doesn't separate them and then baby Galinda gets sick, too?"

"Calm down!"

Elphaba glared at Fiyero, who shrunk back a bit.

"Um, sorry?"

"It's all right. I'm sorry. I'm just… on edge right now."

"I could tell." He said.

This caused her to glare at him again, which he shrunk back from again. Sighing, she got up from bed and stared out the window. "I hate worrying like this. I hate being vulnerable like this!"

He watched her muscles tense in aggravation. "It's all right, Fae."

"But it's not all right. How can we know if it's all right? It'll take us almost a week to get home and only then will we know that it's all right!"

He got up as well and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Please calm down, Fae. For me?"

Softened by his begging, she obeyed and laid her head on his shoulder. "You really think it's going to be all right?"

"I will do my best to make sure it is."

A weak smile broke through the hardened glance she'd had on her face. "Too bad you can't control how baby Dendrio does while we aren't home."

"Positive thoughts control everything."

"I've already killed him," Elphaba tried to joke, though it came out more hostile.

He gave her a questioning look.

"I meant… oh, forget what I meant! This is driving me crazy!" She threw her hands in the air and returned to the bed.

"Maybe we should see if Glinda has some sleeping drought, shall we?"

Sleeping drought or no sleeping drought, Elphaba would not sleep on the ride home.

"Fae…"

"Oh, don't even start with me, Fiyero."

"You need some sort of rest." He insisted.

"I don't care."

"You're exhausted. There are bags under your eyes."

"I don't care if there are giant holes under my eyes! My son is deathly ill."

"My mother did not say 'deathly ill'."

"She might as well have. She can't hide things from me."

"Did you ever consider that you might be paranoid, Fae?"

"Didn't I tell you that I'm always paranoid?"

"I didn't think you would admit it." Fiyero teased. When she would not respond to his teasing, he tried to wrap her in his arms.

"Not now."

"If you really thought that's what I wanted…"

"I know, I know."

They sat in silence for some minutes, tired of their back-and-forth dialogue and weary from worrying about their son. The looks they exchanged were hesitant and awkward, and Fiyero could not look Elphaba in the eye, for he was afraid of what she'd see.

He wanted her even at that moment, for he always wanted her. Despite the horrifying condition - or perhaps it wasn't so horrifying, but how could he know? – of their son, he had let his eyes slide over Elphaba's body and was incurably distracted from concern.

When he finally did look her in the eye, she either did not see what he felt or chose to ignore it. Instead of responding to his lustful glance, she got up and stared at the landscape passing by. "I'm afraid for him," she admitted.

"I know you are," Fiyero prodded gently, "but are you so scared that you can't function?"

Reading the underlying question in his words, she turned to him, "I can't function at all. How can you?"

"I don't know. Maybe the only way I'm doing better than you is to function. Perhaps," he bit his lip, unsure of how to approach this next idea, "you're overreacting."

"I am not!"

Part of him wanted to get up, wrap his arms around her and plead with her for satisfaction, but he'd loved her long enough to know that she'd resent him for it and hold it against him later. Trying desperately to throw away the feeling, he did not approach her, but stayed in his seat, looking directly at her, though her gaze instilled a fear in him he was often afraid to let her see. "I don't mean to offend you, Fae."

"I know. I'm just a bit uptight right now."

Well, he thought to himself, at least she acknowledged that much. He was very tempted to suggest a few ways to "loosen up" but scolded himself yet again. "It's all right."

She saw right through him, but did not grant him the knowledge that this was so. Instead, she turned away from him and laid herself down in a couch-like seat of their compartment and tried to sleep. After less than a second, she wondered aloud, "How can I sleep when…"

He cut her off. There was no other question for her to ask but the one he knew she was asking. "Elphaba."

"I know."

Finally shaking the lust and tension out of his features, he sat down on the edge of the seat. "I love you."

"I love you, too. But I'm…"

"Scared."

She shuddered, realizing how odd it was that they could finish one another's sentences. "Yes."

He wiped her hair away from her face and kissed her forehead. Lovingly, he took her shivering form in his arms. It almost seemed as if she struggled, but it was too small a struggle, if it was so, for him to be sure. "It'll be all right."

"You keep saying that," she murmured.

"Because our love can get us through anything." He tried half-heartedly.

She rolled her eyes. "That's cliché, Fiyero."

"It's true."

In his eyes, she saw a short-term way out of the paranoia and fear she was feeling. Would he know she was only doing it for distraction? "Um," she began, unsure of how to best convince him he needed to love her.

He furrowed his eyebrows, confused at what he saw when he looked at her. "Fae?"

She reached her arms up, slowly, and kissed him. "Let's…" With a shrug, she left the rest to be assumed.

How was it that she could play with him this way and not even know she was doing it? For agonizing minutes that had felt like hours, he'd told himself he could not have her and now she was suggesting it. However, it wasn't as if he could resist _now_. "All right."

He kissed her back passionately and they fell back onto the small bed they shared in the train compartment.

When it was over, he watched her try to fall asleep. It occurred to him that she had only asked him to make love to her because she'd needed a distraction and maybe the comfort of his body. He shook his head, wishing partly that he'd had better skills of resistance, but thinking at the same time that, perhaps, it was worth it not to. "I love you."

"I love you, too," she mumbled sleepily. For the first time in weeks, it looked as if she might actually be able to fall asleep.

When they at last reached the Vinkus, they were finally able to see their children. Elphaba dragged Fiyero to the nursery before even saying hello to his mother or Lali. "Shouldn't we…?"

"No!" She snapped. Standing before Dendrio's cradle she leaned over and felt the baby's forehead. "He's feverish."

"He's been sick since almost the day you left." Fiyero's mother was in the doorway.

Elphaba looked at the woman. "What about baby Galinda?"

"She's doing fine."

Elphaba, unable to believe anything short of tragedy at the moment, moved towards the other cradle. Finding that Fiyero's mother was telling the truth, she sighed. "Good."

Fiyero's mother was not offended by the fact that Elphaba had not quite taken her word. She'd gone through incredible worry about her children before, and understood the way Elphaba was feeling. "When did you get home?"

"Just now," Fiyero answered, coming up behind Elphaba and trying to relieve her tension by massaging her back, though his wife didn't even respond to the gesture.

"What about the wedding?"

"It's not for another couple of weeks, actually not for more than a month," Elphaba replied. "We should be able to get back there by then."

"That's good, that's good." Fiyero's mother looked at Fiyero, who had slumped back into a corner of the room. "What?"

Fiyero only shrugged. "Nothing." He was put off by the way Elphaba had ignored him.

Elphaba knew what was wrong, but she felt she had other things to tend to. Moving back towards Dendrio's cradle, she gave Fiyero's mother a look. "I'm sorry for not telling you we were coming home. I was just so worried."

"I understand. It happens." Fiyero's mother turned towards the door. "Fiyero, can I speak with you for a moment?"

Confused, Fiyero followed his mother into the hallway. "What?"

"She needs you right now."

"I'm trying."

"You don't seem very concerned."

"I am."

"Not about the baby."

This was true. He was more concerned with the way Elphaba had treated him recently than he was with the baby. "Mom, I…" He considered telling his mother about Elphaba's behavior on the train ride home, but realized how much it embarrassed him to even mention his and Elphaba's coupling to his own mother.

"I know. To be honest, his health has been looking up for a few days. He should be fine soon. I can't blame you for not worrying. But she's got to be a mother right now."

"It's not…"

"You can't understand that, I know. But you've got to stay with her. Children can tear a relationship apart if you let them."

Fiyero wasn't planning on letting anything tear the relationship apart. "I understand, Mom."

"Good. I know you don't like her ignoring you, but, for as long as she's like this, you've got to stay by her side."

Fiyero nodded and headed back into the nursery.

Elphaba looked up. "I think I'll sleep next to them tonight," she said, "if you don't want to stay in here, you don't have to."

"I will." Fiyero smiled at her and took her hand from the side of the cradle. "I will."


	13. Chapter 13: Try to Remember

**AN: It's the weirdest thing. I meant to keep writing "It All Started at Shiz" or "A New Boy at Shiz", but I accidentally opened this file first. And then I read through it and I was like, "Oh, I know what I can do with this!" So here you are, guys, finally, another chapter. "A New Boy at Shiz" has two more coming soon; I just need my beta(s) to edit them first. The reason they haven't is because I have a virus on my computer, so I don't spend much time on the Internet, and one of them is hard to catch online. I e-mailed her from the family computer, but when I looked back in sent messages, the message never existed… Anyway, have fun with this chapter in the mean time!**

**Chapter Thirteen: Try to Remember**

"Another long train ride," he commented, watching the Vinkus fly by as the train began to move.

Nodding, she glanced sideways. "I hope they're okay."

"Go check," Fiyero suggested. She'd insisted on bringing along the twins, still uneasy about leaving them after the scare with Dendrio earlier in the month. He saw no problem with any of this, except he'd begun to grow jealous of his own children. Recently, she'd been so preoccupied with the children that he felt he hadn't gotten the slightest bit of deserved attention. The trip had been his hope for some alone time with her, yet she'd thrown that away as well. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy caring for the children, because he did, it was that, in caring for the children, they barely cared for each other.

"The nurses think I'm crazy, I'm sure," she said, shaking her head.

He gave in to the temptation to say, "Maybe you're acting a bit crazy." When the words were out, he sighed with relief, glad to have simply told her what he'd wished to say for so much longer than he could begin to comprehend.

Finally, she directed a gaze straight at him. "What?"

He sat down on the compartment bench nearest the window and gestured for her to sit beside him. "Fae…" Now, when he'd at last obtained the chance, her attention and the time to speak his feelings, he struggled with words. "Don't you see it?"

"See what?" She asked innocently. "That I'm acting crazy? How?"

"Would you sit down?" He moved over, suddenly fearing that perhaps she didn't want to sit so close, though he couldn't imagine why.

"Oh!" She tried a laugh but caught it in her throat. Sitting forcibly near him, she asked, "What is it?"

"Fae, my beautiful, darling Fae, I feel like I've lost you."

She blinked. "How have you 'lost' me?"

"You're so worried about the kids; you barely even talk to me." He stopped for a moment, knowing her eyes would narrow at his next complaint. "You haven't woken me, so sweetly and eagerly in the middle of the night to play or whispered teasingly in my ear in the middle of the day. You don't seem to want to make love other than to appease me." He halted the explanation here, realizing that they'd had a similar conversation before. Hadn't she said these things when she'd voiced her concerns about bearing children? Knowing that, indeed, she had, he lowered his eyes, feeling foolish.

She, however, did not recognize the familiarity of this discussion. "What are you saying?"

"I miss being able to love you," he said plainly.

In her eyes, sometimes everything he said had an underlying connotation and implication of sexual need. Because of her assumptions, she asked, "What do you mean 'love' me? In what way?"

Aggravated, he stood. "What way do you think?"

"You know what way I think." She answered coldly, turning away on the seat. "You know perfectly well."

"Well, you're wrong." He snapped, pushing her to look towards him.

"Then what way do you mean?" She asked again, not fazed by his anger.

Exasperatedly, he said, "In every way." If she found something wrong with that answer, he decided he'd give up on her then and there.

To his delight, she bowed her head and whispered, "I'm sorry."

He detected a choke in her voice and went to her. "Don't…"

"Don't comfort me! I don't deserve it!" She cried. Guiltily, she hid her face in her hands and shook.

He was not sure what exactly she did deserve, but he was certain he loved her no matter what it may be. Quickly, he sat back down and drew her into his arms. "Oh, Fae, don't cry. Just," he paused and lifted her chin to find her eyes, "promise me that you won't do this - won't be this way - anymore."

"I didn't even realize," she admitted.

"You didn't feel any different?"

"Well I did," she conceded, "but I just thought unhappy couldn't be fixed."

"It can be." He reassured her. "I will fix everything I can for you."

"How in Oz do you put up with me, my love?" She asked fondly.

"Sometimes I wonder the same thing."

"Fiyero!" She hit him playfully.

He pinned her down. "Not so fast, Fae."

"Fast?" She challenged, "I'll show you fast!" Without hesitation, she pulled him down and gave him a long, passionate kiss, lovingly. Pulling away and gasping, she asked, "How's that for fast?"

"Forget what you were saying," he muttered, fumbling with her dress. "I love you, Fae. You know that?"

"Of course I do."

"I always will, you know."

"Don't say that too easily. One of these days, I might just drive you crazy."

"And I'll love every minute of it."

"You'll love every minute of this, too," she laughed, pulling him out of his clothes.

* * *

Glinda's place had not changed much since they had last seen it, though the tension around it was much thicker. A nervous bride-to-be wandered the halls and embraced Elphaba when she arrived. "How have you been?" 

"Well, I wasn't doing to well for a while, but I'm all right now." Elphaba smiled, hugging her friend gratefully.

"What was wrong?"

"Never, ever let children ruin your marriage." Elphaba said simply. "Love your children, but don't let that love cause you to stop loving your husband."

"I didn't know you'd ever cease loving Fiyero."

"I haven't, at least not _truly_."

"You probably never will."

"You're right, I won't." Elphaba smiled and watched Fiyero carry their bags from their carriage. As he ambled over to them, she asked, "Where do you want our bags?"

"You're staying in the guesthouse. I figured you two would like the privacy."

Elphaba hugged Glinda again. "You're so sweet. We need it. Fiyero and I have had some issues that we've only just resolved…"

"Don't let them get in the way of my wedding," Glinda warned.

"I'd never do that." Elphaba assured her. "I wrote you, but I'm not sure if you get the letter. There wasn't much time for you to write back. We brought the twins along, if that's all right."

"I did get your letter, and I'm overjoyed, really. We have a nursery that hasn't been used much, and an extra bedroom next to it for the nurse."

"We have two nurses, Glinda, as we have two children."

Glinda looked thoughtful for a moment, but came up with nothing. She simply exclaimed, "We'll find somewhere to put them!"

"How far is the nursery from the guesthouse?" Elphaba knew she wasn't supposed to be overly concerned with her children, but motherly instinct (something she'd never thought she could have) had kicked in.

"You can actually get to the nursery around the back door. That way, if you want to visit the twins at night, you don't have to come through the front and traipse around the house making noise. And the guesthouse is in the back yard, so it's essentially pretty close." Glinda told her. "Don't worry about a thing."

"I think I'll go help the nurses get the twins settled, if that's okay. Could you tell Fiyero where to put our things?" Elphaba didn't really wait for an answer; she was after her babies as quickly as possible.

Glinda smiled and shook her head. She wandered over to where Fiyero was finishing unloading things from the taxi carriage. "How are you?"

Fiyero smiled. "I'm fine."

"That's good to hear. The guesthouse is right over here; I'll open the door for you."

Fiyero grabbed the first piece of luggage and followed Glinda. "Thanks."

"How's Dendrio?"

"He's doing fine, actually. Don't tell Elphaba I said this, but he was not nearly as bad as she seemed to think. She read a bit more into my mother's letter than she needed. But she loves the kids, so it doesn't much surprise me. But we really didn't need to go home at all."

"She's just being a mother."

"You see, that's what all the women tell me, I don't get it."

"You'll be fatherly when the time comes. There'll be situations that won't unnerve her and will scare you out of your wits. It goes both ways."

"I can't wait," Fiyero joked. He almost laughed when he stepped into the main room of the guesthouse. "I don't think she's going to enjoy ruffled white bedspread," he muttered to himself, pulling in one bag and heading out for the other.

Glinda hadn't heard this, but followed him back out to the carriage. "Is there anything small I can grab? I'd like to help, but I'm a bit weak, I have to admit."

He tossed her one of Elphaba's bags, which, as usual, was meager. "Did you design the guest house?"

"My mother did."

"Like mother, like daughter." He observed. Fiyero could only wonder how Elphaba would be able to stay in a room with pink walls. She'd probably attempt suicide. Then he had an idea. As soon as Glinda was gone, he rifled through the bottom of one of the suitcases and found several Vinkus scarves. They were lightweight and took up little space in a suitcase. Within no time, he'd draped them on the walls. "Much better," he said to himself proudly.

"Better than pink." Elphaba agreed from the doorway. "But I must say, with all the scarves like that, it looks a bit like your old dorm room."

"Well, that's fine with me. We had a few good memories there, didn't we?"

"I can only remember one really good one." Elphaba teased, walking up to him and admiring his work beside him.

He put an arm around her shoulder. "But we should have had two really good times. However, one will be left forever forgotten."

"I don't think we've quite forgotten it. We know what happened; we just don't remember a single real detail. Though I do believe we had some sort of kinky thing with a scarf, because I woke up with one around my waist." She commented.

"Do you remember which one it was?"

"It's not like you kept all of them." She looked at him, amusement dancing in her eyes.

"Why wouldn't I? They'd all been in my dorm; I brought them all home. When I go out of town, I have almost all, if not all, of them with me. It makes me feel more at home." He turned her to face scarves again. "Now, tell me, which one?"

Elphaba squinted and considered the scarves for a moment. Then she walked over and ripped one right out of Fiyero's elaborate display. "This one. Look, there's a little white stain on the underside," she elbowed him, showing him a navy scarf with violets and roses decorating it.

He snatched it, flushing the slightest bit. "That doesn't mean it was this one!"

"I don't know why else that would be there." She raised her eyebrows at him. "I'm pretty sure it was this one. Besides, I remember, even in the panic in the morning, when I found it, I thought it was so pretty and I liked that the background was dark blue, because it reminded me of the diamonds on your skin and the blue of your eyes. I wanted to touch it or hold it or play with it or something, but I was too concerned about the fact that I had just woken up, naked, in your bed with an ache between my legs." She paused and glanced over the scarf again. After a moment, she added, with a little more tenderness in her voice, "Plus, if you look closely, on one of the flowers and part of the background, there's a darker, brown-looking stain."

Quietly, he whispered, "Your blood?"

"Yeah. One large stain and a few other little droplets," Elphaba murmured softly. She sat down on the bed, holding the scarf to her bosom.

"Fae?" He sat down next to her.

"I know it was probably better that way, that I never had to remember the pain, that we already knew each other's bodies. But I remember thinking, just before we were married, how the sheets with the stains of feminine blood from the marriage night are something sacred to a couple, and I wished, even though it probably wouldn't have been as comfortable the first night, that we had something like that. In a way," she ran her fingers along the cloth of the scarf, "we do." Carefully, she folded the scarf and placed it at the bottom of her bag. "But if you think I'm going to let you leave it up there, you're dead."

He sighed, relieved. He'd thought for a moment that something was wrong. Fiyero touched the scarf for a moment and then kissed her. "Well, you're right. We do have that, as something. But I never thought we needed it. We've got more than enough love."

She fought the urge to roll her eyes and accuse him of yet another cliché and smiled at him instead. "I know. I'd just like to remember, in some way, something that was supposed to be really special."

"I never saw you as sentimental." He said.

Elphaba's cheeks darkened and she shrugged. "I'm a woman. Any woman gets a little sensitive about the loss of her virginity."

And so was Glinda. Elphaba had expected, the night before the wedding, to sleep, as usual, in the bed in the guesthouse with Fiyero, but Glinda had called her into her own, pink, fluffy room, and didn't seem to be ready to let her leave, at least not by midnight. "Elphie," she confessed eventually, "I'm scared."

Elphaba, who'd barely been nervous on her own wedding night, asked, "What's to be scared of? You love him, don't you?"

Glinda nodded fiercely.

"Then there's nothing to worry about."

"But what about the wedding night?" She wondered.

"I thought…"

"We haven't. Sometimes we sleep in the same bed, in our nightclothes, because it's very comfortable and makes us feel closer, but we've never actually made love. He's much too respectful to even think about doing such a thing before we're married, and I, no offense, Elphie, agree."

Elphaba wanted to ask if they were going to save the sheets, but thought the better of it. The mention of the bloodstain that would most likely be the reason to keep them would only make Glinda more jumpy. It was something she guessed the blonde was trying not to think about. She hugged Glinda. "It's going to be fine. Take this from someone who knows."

"But Elphie," Glinda protested nervously, "you don't remember your first time."

Elphaba bit her lip. "That's true. But the first time can't be that bad. I wouldn't have done anything that felt really awful, drunk or not."

"Do you know if you bled?"

"There was blood on his sheets and things afterwards, yes."

"Anything that makes you bleed has to hurt, doesn't it?" Glinda insisted.

"Why must you force yourself to be so scared? Have you not read any books? If he's gentle, and doesn't immediately start moving too fast, it'll only hurt for a moment. I mean, you'll feel a bit sore during and for some time after… I did, that much I remember. But it's not going to be some agonizing, excruciating sort of pain, Glinda."

That didn't seem to comfort her. The blonde only curled up in the bed and started sobbing.

"Sweet Oz, Glinda! Stop that! If it makes you feel any better, I can promise you the second time doesn't hurt at all and feels wonderful." Elphaba tried. "You know I can tell you that much."

Glinda sniffled. "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"What if he's not gentle?"

Elphaba tried very hard not to start laughing rudely. "It's Boq, Glinda. He'll probably be too gentle."

Glinda smiled halfheartedly. "I don't know if I'm ready."

"You're a grown woman."

"I know."

"And many women your age have already married and had children."

Glinda paused, "That's true."

"Having children, now that's pain. If you're worried about sex being painful, you don't even want to consider what childbirth is going to be like. I didn't have to even go through the entire thing naturally, because of some complication, but proceeding was hell. I can only imagine it must make a woman want to tear herself apart, actually giving birth naturally."

Elphaba's attempt to ease Glinda's nerves didn't help. Sex leads to children, and if children led to pain, sex must lead to pain. Even though Elphaba stayed with Glinda through most of the night and the early morning, Glinda's fears only mounted. The lesson Glinda learned that night had nothing to do with sex; Glinda learned never to ask for Elphaba's comfort. Elphaba had tried, but they both knew it hadn't worked very well.


	14. Chapter 14: Devastation and Need

**AN: Okay, not the happiest chapter. And it's been a bit. But, as you've noticed, I'm sure, when I'm not updating the two really active ones, it's this one. I adore this one. This is the only one I still have moving that I adore almost as much as... FEtF... which is the god of all I've written on this site, at least to me... Enjoy... or, well, it's not the happiest, so... I don't know...**

Chapter Fourteen: Devastation and Need

There was not a flaw in the wedding ceremony (except for Elphaba being so tired that when she walked down the aisle with Fiyero on her arm as maid of honor and best man, she almost tripped – Fiyero, always the gentleman and able to sense when things with his wife were about to go awry, caught her graciously). The bride did not tremble or stumble (which Elphaba thought was quite a feat, seeing as Glinda's dress was so long it trailed almost a yard behind her) on her way to the altar, and her friends and family gave her reassuring smiles throughout the ceremony. Afterwards, the reception went equally well, though the bride did finally show some nervousness as she and the groom were escorted into the carriage that would take them to the hotel at which they were to spend their honeymoon. Giving Elphaba one long, strained and suffocating hug, Glinda was gone and the reception was over. Fiyero and Elphaba offered to stay and help clean up and take the later morning train, but Glinda's family, like Fiyero's, had many servants and no help was needed. Still, it was close to sunrise when Fiyero and Elphaba finally returned to the guesthouse to pack the last of their things and head home on the earliest train.

They'd planned on sleeping for the first day of the ride, but after an hour one of the nurses woke Elphaba, having been instructed to inform Elphaba if one or both of the twins looked or behaved in any way out of the norm. She stood quickly, leaving Fiyero to sleep, and headed into the compartment next-door. The nurse had said, "It seems that baby Galinda is a little nauseous."

Nauseous she was. "Poor Gali," Elphaba cooed, "must be a little motion sickness, eh?" She rocked the baby in her arms, gratefully taking a towel to place around her shoulders and over her clothing for when the child threw up, which she did. Patiently, Elphaba wiped the vomit from her daughter's face and sung to her some more. It never occurred to her that it was any more than the movement of the train that was making her eighteen-month-old daughter ill. With instructions to the nursesto care for baby Galinda as she had for the rest of the ride until the nausea subsided, Elphaba returned to Fiyero later in the day and sat in silence with him as he mumbled things to her. He'd been a little odd since the ceremony and she rolled her eyes.

The days went by; Fiyero's mumbling became more comprehendible and baby Galinda continued to show symptoms of nothing more than motion sickness, though no one had bothered to look for anything else. Elphaba was more than a little relieved to settle back into the scheme of things at home, with one exception.

The nurse once again came rushing in to wake Elphaba, but this time she was at home, in her own bed with her husband – who had yet to fall asleep as she had. "She's still vomiting, ma'm."

"What?" Elphaba rubbed her eyes and sat up, shaking her head. "It must be a bit of residue from the train ride. If she's this way in the morning, alert me immediately, all right?"

With a bow, the nurse hurried out the door, "Of course, mistress."

As it turned out, Galinda was not the same way in the morning, she was much worse. Her face was pinched and dark red and she wouldn't stop crying – well, except when she was heaving up whatever she'd been given. Elphaba stayed in the nursery all morning, and Fiyero joined her eventually as well. It distressed her that there seemed to be nothing she could to for her daughter, no way to stop the pain. The doctor had been called for, but he was out of the way and no one was quite sure when he would return.

Fiyero's mother came in mid-afternoon, having not seen Elphaba and Fiyero when they had arrived the previous evening. Her face was grave. "How was the wedding?" She asked quietly.

"It went well," Elphaba responded distractedly.

Fiyero noticed something in his mother's face and said, "What's going on?"

She swallowed carefully. "While you were gone, Verina went into labor and…"

"She lost the child, didn't she?" Elphaba placed a hand over her mouth in horror.

"No, the child is alive. Verina didn't make it." Sidrio, clad in all black and carrying a small, unhealthy looking baby in his arms, entered the room.

Fiyero went to hug his brother and his mother stood staunchly, trying her best to scold her grieving younger son. He had to learn how to take care of the child; no woman would be there to do it for him. "Why isn't he with the nurses, Sid?" She demanded.

"I…" Sidrio's eyes filled with helpless tears, "Mom, he's all I've got left of her, you can't tell me I'm not allowed to hold him once in a while."

"He's still weak," his mother reprimanded softly, "you can be with him, but stay in the second nursery with the nurse, all right?"

There was a silence for a moment as they watched the young man sulk out of the room and meander half-heartedly down the hallway. Elphaba felt tears at the corner of her eyes, "Poor thing…"

A startled gurgling noise came from the cradle-bed at the center of the room. Elphaba shrieked and the nurses gathered quickly.

"Why is she choking?" Elphaba whispered. "What do we do?" She looked to the nurses.

Fiyero left the door way and his watch of his brother immediately and stood behind Elphaba, watching Galinda's face darken to a purple as the nurses lifted her up, patted her back and attempted to swipe out whatever was blocking the infant's airway with a finger. He felt Elphaba grasp his hand tightly when nothing worked.

The nurses desperately repeated the same strategy, mumbling that they thought the child might be choking on her own vomit. Elphaba shuddered and whimpered softly. "She can't… no…"

Galinda's noises quieted and her face began turning more blue than purple. Elphaba took the girl from one of the nurses and did a similar rescue strategy with a similar failure. She held the child in her arms as Galinda lost lungpower and ceased breathing. Fiyero watched in horror with a hand on Elphaba's shoulder. "Fae…"

"No!" Elphaba cried, looking down at her child. "No! Galinda, please! Come on!"

The child's body was still and silent. Her eyes were open in terror and fear, never to close naturally. One of the nurses gently took the girl from Elphaba before she fell backwards into Fiyero in a faint…

* * *

Elphaba struggled against the blankets as she woke up. "Galinda!" 

Fiyero and his mother were in the room, Fiyero on the edge of the bed, his mother in a rocking chair holding Dendrio. Turning to look at her as she was forced into consciousness and reality, Fiyero shook his head softly at her, tears pooling in his eyes. "Fae, she…"

"My baby," Elphaba murmured, coming rapidly to the harsh realization that she had not just woken from a nightmare, but had been placed in the bed after the actual events had occurred and she had lost the strength to face them. "No, not my baby." She barely felt Fiyero's arms around her as she began to cry, a broken, terrifying sound.

Fiyero let tears drop quietly from his own eyes as he held Elphaba and stroked her back gently. "I know, baby, I know," he mumbled, burying his face in her hair to mask the tears.

He'd never called her "baby" before, and she'd never have allowed it had he tried. But she didn't care. The word "baby" only stung and pricked her heart in sadness and loss. She couldn't think; she could only cry. Tears burned in a quantity more than ever before, but she didn't feel them like before; they were numbed behind the mental block, the emotional pain. Her hands clutched at Fiyero feebly. "It's not fair," she stated, repeating it several times like a battle cry.

Fiyero's mother watched the grieving couple cling to each other through her own tears. The inhabitants of the palace had gone through much depression now, and Fiyero and Elphaba had only been told of any of it just before the second wave had hit. Waiting patiently for the sobs to quiet, she rocked in the chair, watching her first grandson's face as he banged his little fists against his ears, disliking the noise of his mother's cries. She lovingly kissed his forehead.

After Elphaba's throat was sore from abuse and Fiyero's tears had slowed somewhat, Fiyero's mother tenderly placed the boy into Elphaba's shaking arms. She nodded understandingly at Elphaba as the young woman tried to smile in thanks and failed. With that she left the room.

Fiyero looked down at his son – his only child, now – in his wife's arms and an involuntary shudder crept up his spine, another small wave of sorrow for his late daughter. "Dendrio," he said softly.

Elphaba looked up at this some, and looked into her husband's eyes. "Our baby," she whispered.

"Yes," he kissed her cheek, "he's still here."

"But Gali… she was only a little nauseous. Just a little vomit and she was defenseless. No one could save her except herself, and she didn't know how, she just couldn't figure it out…" Elphaba gazed into nothingness. She hung her head and didn't make another gesture.

"Fae," Fiyero said, alarmed when she hardly moved, "Fae!"

She barely responded. Her eyes were focused on something no one else could see. Dazedly, she answered, "What, darling?"

"Please, don't do this. We can't fall apart." He tried to reason with her, and his own emotions. "Dendrio needs us, too, Fae, and we still need each other. We can't just stop paying attention to that."

"So hard…" She muttered.

Fiyero stared at her in astonishment. How was she supposed to take care of her son and love her son and husband if she couldn't gather the motivation to love and take care of herself? "Elphaba, I love you. I loved Gali. I love Dendrio. We can't forget about what we still love."

"Oh, yes, of course," she said absently, "I love you, too."

He wanted to shake her, but Dendrio was still in her arms – though not getting any attention and disliking it immensely. "What about Dendrio?"

"Dendrio, too." She agreed vaguely.

She can't be doing this, he thought. Elphaba wasn't about to just turn herself into a broken piece of machinery without the ability to feel. He wouldn't allow it. Fiyero took her chin in his hand and forced her to look at Dendrio. "Fae, don't you care about our son?"

Then she shivered, tearing her face away and glaring at him. "Why? What are you trying to do to me, Fiyero?"

He opened his mouth, stunned out of words for a moment. "What do you mean, what am I trying to do? I'm trying to make you feel!"

"I don't want to," she spat.

Fiyero didn't want Dendrio in the middle of this, he decided, and softened his voice, "Give Dendrio to me. I think he should be back in the nursery. The nurses should check on him, just to make sure."

Elphaba nodded and stood, leaving Fiyero's arms. She then let Fiyero coax the child from her arms. She sat down on the bed and stared at her hands idly until Fiyero returned.

"Look, Fae," he sat next to her, holding her hand in his, running his hand over her knuckle repeatedly as if he needed to be sure all of her was still there, "I'm upset. I know you are, too. I loved her, Fae. She was our daughter. Galinda was young and something tragic happened and we can still grieve; I understand that. You can take all the time you want to grieve, because I will, too. I don't know when I'll stop crying for her on occasion. But we still have each other, and we still have Dendrio. If we forget all of that, then we have nothing to live for."

"I don't want to have something to live for," she snarled, tearing her hand away, "because what happens when those things die, Fiyero?"

"Then you hurt, Elphaba, and you feel."

"Why? I don't want to feel… this way…"

"Neither do I. No one wants this sorrow. But it comes with love and happiness, Fae. I need you right now, love. I think you need me, too. We need to be here for each other and for Dendrio, but we can't do that if we don't love."

"I do love. I just stop when I need to."

"You can't just stop! What kind of crazy foolish talk is that, Elphaba? If you try to pull this ridiculous stunt then you do _not_ really love! And if, in your way, you do, then this won't stop the pain forever, and it'll all ambush you someday, not to mention this behavior." He put both hands on her shoulders and looked at her. "Don't do this. I can't watch you do this after losing Gali, Fae. We lost her. I don't want to lose you, too."

She stared into his eyes. Everything there was open and raw and honest. He was real. Elphaba shrank back into the bed. "That's just it. I don't want to lose any more."

"And so you think that just by getting rid of it now you're saving yourself the pain? You're losing it now! Enjoy it, damn it!" He was getting aggravated. Fiyero loved her more than anything in the world, but they didn't often agree on the way emotions were to be dealt with, including their emotions towards one another. She could be so difficult.

"Fiyero," she touched his cheek carefully, "I'm afraid. If I enjoy things, then doesn't that make it harder to lose them?"

"It makes life harder to live altogether if you never enjoy and cherish anything because you're afraid of the day when you won't be able to, Fae," he insisted, taking both of her hands in his. "I can't watch you do this." Tears welled again in him, as he supposed they would quite often for some time, and he bowed his head. "I need you."

"Yero." Her voice shook but she pulled her hands out of his and encircled them around him, holding him as best she could. "I need you, too. What happens when we both need?"

"Then we give and we take." He told her, hiding his face in her neck until the necessity to cry subsided. Fiyero then wrapped his arms around her and they held each other quietly, not speaking when tears dripped slowly and splashed the blankets, not denying each other, not taking too much. They were simply combining the little strength they each had left and building it into a fortress. "We might not always have everything. Well, now, we never will, but we have to care for what we do have. I miss her, but I'm going to care for you, and I'm going to care for our son. Please do that, too."

"I will," she promised. "But it hurts."

"It will," he reminded her, "but you're not alone. Neither am I. We can do this, okay?"

"It would be so much easier just to lie around and give up."

"Easier, maybe," he ran his fingers through her hair, "but not as happy."

She nodded slowly. "I love you."

"I love you, too. I love you just as much as I did yesterday, and the day before, and as much as I ever have and more. Don't ask me to deny it."

"I won't, Yero my hero."

"Am I really still your hero, Fae?" He drew back a little until they were nose to nose, looking seriously into one another's eyes. "When I couldn't save her, either?"

"You save _me_ every day," she told him, wiping at tears uselessly, "especially today."

"Then swear to me that we're going to get through this. That you're not going to fight the process of living with this." He begged.

"I swear," she assuaged him. "This world is so cruel, Fiyero. We'd just found out about Verina and then moments later we'd lost our daughter," she furrowed her eyebrows as he gently brushed at her tears, like she was trying to understand. Elphaba gave up and nuzzled into Fiyero, needing to be held as much as he needed to hold her. "I wonder if there's more pain than this."

"I don't want to find out if there is worse, love." He tightened his arms around her. "Don't go trying to discover the answer for me by running away from me or leaving me in any way, please."

"I wouldn't leave you of my own will," she looked into his face and kissed him, holding her hand to the back of his neck and running her fingers over the skin lovingly. "You'd better not leave me, though."

Fiyero used his free hand to take hers from his neck and kiss the tip of each finger. "Not if I have any say in it, not ever."

He closed his eyes and they cuddled in silence. She knew he was crying when a tear fell from his chin to her shoulder and she winced. He knew she was crying because her body became slightly stiffer when the tingle of tears still smarted her cheeks. They made an unspoken pact to never leave one another as long as it could be helped, and to care for one another even when they both were hurt, and to love, always, their son, their daughter and her memory, and each other, for the rest of their lives.


	15. Chapter 15: The Boundaries of Comfort

**AN: Again, if you want to help figure out a name for a Glinda-Boq pairing, head over to my special Wicked site/forums. The link is in my profile.**

**Chapter Fifteen: The Boundaries of Comfort**

Fiyero found Elphaba in the garden, near their daughter's grave again. She'd risen before him, as usual, and snuck outside. He'd decided to follow her, as he always did, but got delayed when he'd passed the nursery. Two-year-old Dendrio, just learning to walk and talk, had been dressed by his nurse and was toddling around the room. Dendrio begged his father to play with him, and so Fiyero had bent down, taken the boy in his arms, carried him down the stairs and set him down once they'd ended up outdoors so he could walk himself. The boy ambled slowly beside him as Fiyero walked patiently. When the boy saw his mother, he hurried his pace, tripped and fell once, but relentlessly ran into her arms.

She picked him up hugged him. "Hi there, sweetheart." Over the child's head, she gave Fiyero a questioning glance.

"I was headed out to find you and our little rascal here demanded to be played with, so I brought him along." Fiyero shrugged.

Elphaba didn't put the boy down. "You took him out here? Don't you think that might not be the best of ideas?" She eyed little Galinda's grave.

"Ma," Dendrio tugged at Elphaba's hair before Fiyero answered her. "What this?"

"This," Elphaba smiled, gesturing around her, "is the garden, silly."

"Why rocks?" He pointed at the few gravestones – one of them marking Fiyero's father's resting place, one of them Verina's, one of the Galinda's and the rest of them relatives she hadn't known.

She struggled to explain and threw Fiyero a "this is why I told you not to" look. "Well, they're decorations. People have decorations outside, too."

"Touch?" He opened and closed his fists in the direction of the graves.

"No, sweetheart."

Fiyero always had to struggle not to laugh when Elphaba called their son "sweetheart", something she'd never put up with being called. He followed her as she carried their son into another part of the garden and placed him on the grass. They played with the boy until he pushed them away, suddenly wanting to show his independence, saying he could play alone, or something of the sort. Elphaba pretended to pout and be hurt at her son's actions, but the little one didn't change his mind; he was as stubborn as his mother. And so the two of them sat a fair distance away, watching Dendrio as he picked an occasional flower and talked half-baby talk to himself.

"Six months," Elphaba murmured.

Fiyero didn't have to ask. He put his arm around her and replied, "I know. I miss her, too."

"Do you think he remembers her?" Elphaba asked, tracing circles in the grass with a finger thoughtfully.

"Sometimes he seems to wonder why he's the only child in the nursery, but I think all he really can recall is another presence in a cradle nearby." Fiyero said, brushing Elphaba's hair out of her face.

"Maybe it's better that way," she wondered.

"Maybe," he pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head. "Have you ever thought about how either of our lives would've ended up if that one night at Shiz had never happened?"

She cocked her head at him, confused. "No. Why?"

"Maybe," he sighed, "if we hadn't ended up together, you'd be happier."

"Without you? How?" She rolled her eyes and swatted at him.

"Really. If none of that had happened, you wouldn't have had to go through everything…"

"I'd probably have to go through something else, Fiyero, and most likely worse." She closed her eyes for a moment and shuddered, "Certainly worse."

"I wanted you to be happy, Fae." He murmured in her ear.

"I am." When he looked at her disbelievingly, she explained, "If you and I weren't together, Fiyero, I wouldn't be sad sometimes, maybe, but I wouldn't be happy so much of the time, either. You said it, that love comes with pain, and you're right. I'd rather love you than live without anything, pain or not." She crawled directly into his lap playfully. "We make each other happy. Our son makes me happy. I still feel a nagging sorrow about everything else, Yero, but I'm glad that I have you two, my two boys."

He smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist. "I would think you shouldn't be calling me a boy."

"Why not? You certainly behave like one at times." She teased.

"Not always."

"No, not always, because sometimes you're being so serious and dreadfully melancholy, like you were just now."

"We need to be serious some of the time, you know."

"I know. But you always worry and get serious about such irrational things, Yero."

"I don't. Sometimes my worries are a bit irrational, but not every time."

"No," she admitted, "not every time." She leaned into him and they watched their son in silence for some time, until the boy came running back up to them.

He had flowers in his hands. "Look, Mommy… dec… decora…"

"Decorations?" Elphaba supplied.

"Yeah. Can I put dem somewhere?" He asked. "Wit da rest?"

Fiyero looked at Elphaba and saw her frown for a moment, but she stood up. "Of course, sweetie. Just let me come with you."

Fiyero followed behind Elphaba and Dendrio as they moved back towards the graves. "Where do you want to put your pretty decorations, Dendrio?"

He must've known. He had to. "Right there." He pointed to Galinda's grave.

Elphaba gasped softly and then shook herself back into maternal mode. "Okay, but be careful. Place them gently, all right?"

"Yeah, Mommy." Dendrio moved slowly towards the grave stone and knelt down to arrange the flowers in front of it.

Fiyero hugged Elphaba from behind as she watched, eyes wide. "I think, somehow, he knows, Fae."

Elphaba turned around and looked up at him, a single tear in her eye. "I think so, too." She blinked and let Fiyero kiss the tear away before Dendrio came racing back to them.

"Look! Boo-ti-ful." Dendrio exclaimed, tugging at his mother's skirts.

She laughed genuinely and then scooped him off the ground. "Yes. But it's naptime now, isn't it?"

"But Mommy…"

"No, don't you 'but Mommy' me!" She put a finger on his nose. "You're taking a nap. I don't want you getting crabby later."

"I won't geh cwabby!" He argued childishly.

She only shook her head. "Come on, Den. Daddy and I will put you to sleep and I'll sing you a song, okay?"

Dendrio glowered, but agreed and allowed his mother to carry him back inside to the nursery. He sucked his thumb once he'd been placed on the blankets (something they knew he only did when he was tired). "Sing?"

Elphaba sang him a lullaby softly. Her voice had not lost its beauty from being underused. It wasn't powerful, but it was syrupy and wonderful. Dendrio fell asleep in no time. She quickly leaned over and kissed the toddler on the head and turned back to Fiyero.

"You are so good with him." Fiyero said, somewhat astounded. "This is not the Elphaba I remember from Shiz."

"Oh, there's still part of _that_," she grinned, "but that only comes out when we're alone in the bedroom."

"Which we could be… now, perhaps?" Fiyero held a hand out to her.

She kissed him and took it. "Some things never change."

Once in their bedroom, Fiyero pulled Elphaba into a long, passionate kiss and they tumbled back onto the bed, Elphaba giggling. He kissed her again and again, until he felt he could leave her mouth and make his way down to her neck as she panted lightly. She ran her hands along his chest until she could pull at his shirt. Fiyero paused in kissing her for a moment to get the shirt off and then concentrated on her again. His hands went to the zipper of her dress and he felt her tremble as he pulled it down. "Cold in here?"

"It's summer." She chuckled. "No, that was right down my spine, it's instinct to shiver, and you know that." Elphaba laughed at his facial expression. "Okay, in the terms I know you're looking for: yes, you can continue."

"You know me too well." He replied, tugging the dress down. Fiyero brought his hands up to her breasts and caressed them as he kissed her neck, reveling in the helpless noises she made in pleasure. From there, he took his hands lower and his mouth to where his hands had been, his breath hot on her skin.

"Mmm." She felt his hands removing the rest of her clothes and then exploring her, as they often did. Elphaba quickly undid Fiyero's trousers and smirked when he had to help her pull them off. Her eyes closed as he moved into her. "I love you."

"I love you, too." For a long while, they moved together, Elphaba wrapping her legs around his waist, allowing him to go deeper, and gasping blissfully when he did. He pressed his face into her neck as she began to cry out and writhe beneath him. Her final cry took him over the edge, warmth flowing through her. Fiyero didn't move away from her, instead he pulled her closer and rolled onto his side, so they were looking at each other side to side. "Fae." He breathed.

"See?" Elphaba smiled, "I told you that you make me happy."

Fiyero grunted and tickled her, finally pulling away from her some. "I'd hope that's not the only way, though."

"For Oz's sake, of course not!" She wheezed between helpless cries of laughter. "Stop that!"

He relented and they settled down beside each other, whispering sweet words of promise and love. They didn't wake until mid-afternoon, when Elphaba yawned and sat up. Pulling on one of her robes, she wandered to the window. "Lali's coming home from school."

Fiyero got up and joined her. "Who's that with her?"

"Oh, that's Niran. He walks her home sometimes."

"He?" Fiyero squinted and looked at the two figures heading towards the palace.

"Yes, he stays and has a snack with her and sometimes they sit around and play games. I think he's got a tiny crush on her, but Lali doesn't seem to have any inkling or interest, yet." Elphaba confided.

"A crush on Lali?"

"She's almost thirteen, Fiyero," Elphaba reminded him kindly.

"Right. But he's a guy."

Elphaba chortled and rested a hand on Fiyero's arm. "Leave it be. She likes his company. If you go down there at all, you'll scare the poor thing. I imagine just being in the presence of the King might make him nervous."

"Possibly. Wait," Fiyero looked at Elphaba suspiciously, "how do you know about this boy and I don't?"

"I've been down there, but only once. He got very shy and quiet when I came in and wouldn't stop calling me 'Your Highness', no matter how many times I told him it wasn't necessary. I think it'd be much worse if you walked into the living room, oh King of the Arijiki tribe."

"Maybe I should go down there, then, just so he knows who he's messing with if he hurts Lali." Fiyero clenched his fists.

Elphaba grabbed his wrist firmly. "No, Fiyero. She's going to be all right. You're being a bit overprotective."

"She's my little sister, I have a right to." He protested.

Elphaba did not let go. "She'll hate you if you do this." She said sternly. "Fiyero, she's not a baby anymore, and more importantly, she's not yours. If your mother sees something that is wrong with this boy, then she'll do something about it. She obviously doesn't see anything. Let her go." She thought for a moment and couldn't help but think that this is what Fiyero would've been like in eleven years with young Galinda, had she lived. Quietly, she turned away.

He felt her grip suddenly loosen and eyed her. "Fae," he took her hand back. "I know. But my father was always so old, so I was her protector. Shouldn't I still be?"

"I guess. But enough girls grow up without fathers and they turn out fine, Fiyero. I was close to growing up without one, in a way, and I… well, never mind that, I didn't turn out wonderful and perfect, but still."

"You turned out perfect for me." Fiyero told her.

"Cliché." Elphaba said in a singsong.

"But it's true." He echoed.

She hugged him and hid her face in his chest. "Yero my hero." If it had been up to her, she would've liked to stand with him holding her forever, but it was not to be. Fiyero's mother knocked on the door then and choked a little bit (Fiyero still hadn't dressed and Elphaba's robe wasn't cinched completely). Elphaba nudged Fiyero and tightened her robe. "Put something on, darling." She looked, unashamedly, at Fiyero's mother. "What is it?"

Fiyero pulled his pants on haphazardly and shrugged into a shirt. "Hey, mom."

Fiyero's mother raised her eyebrows but smiled. "Lali's friend, Niran, is staying for dinner. I figured I should warn you so you know we have company later. Dinner isn't for another hour and a half, but he's never met you before, so I thought I'd let you know."

Fiyero threw Elphaba an "I win anyway" look and Elphaba humphed and put her hands on her hips. "Perfect timing," she muttered. Looking at the clock, she straightened. "Dendrio's been up for a half hour. Come dear, let's go check on him." She pulled Fiyero by the arm out the door, his mother standing there with her hand to her mouth, laughing silently.

After peeking in the door of the nursery and seeing Dendrio amusing himself contentedly with his rocking horse and toy wagon, they sat down outside the door to just watch him until dinner was called. It felt like much less time than they'd estimated, but the dinner bell rang when they were still lounging in the hall. Elphaba made sure the nurse was bringing him down to dinner and then joined arms with Fiyero as they descended the stairs.

Fiyero watched Elphaba for a moment. They were only twenty-five, he realized, and, though they acted like it in some ways (such as their previous behavior in their bedroom), they also had gone through much more than was expected for a couple so young. She'd had two children, lost one, lost a friend, watched a friend get married and completely severed contact with the rest of her family. He was her life now, and it scared him and pleased him at the same time. Elphaba glanced at him when they reached the dining hall. "Fiyero?"

"What?"

"You were looking at me funny."

"I was just thinking about how beautiful you still are." He took her by surprise – making her shriek in half alarm and delight – and dipped her and kissed her. "Now, shall we eat dinner, my love?"

Elphaba, who had held onto his neck for dear life when he'd dipped her, dropped her hands and took his in one of them. "I guess so."

There was a commotion as soon as they walked through the doors. A chair toppled over and a young boy said quickly, "Your Highness!" Lali's friend had stood up in alarm and bowed to them, flushing incredibly.

"Niran," Elphaba scolded carefully, "I told you that you don't need to do that."

"I'm sorry, Your Highness, I mean, I'm sorry, I just… I feel I should." The boy stammered.

Elphaba walked towards the boy and crouched down to his level in the chair. "Niran, really, don't get so nervous. I don't think that's going to help your chances with Lali at all."

Lali hadn't really been listening and when she heard her name looked up as everyone else in the room laughed or chuckled. "What? What did Elphaba say about me?" She pouted, folding her hands over her chest.

Elphaba told her, "I said nothing about you, really. Just something about Niran."

The boy was staring at the floor and blushing even darker and Fiyero, though still feeling a bit defensive, started feeling sorry for him, too. Of course, he could guess that had probably been Elphaba's goal, in order to stop Fiyero from becoming protective. This way, he'd feel like he was on the same side. He caught it, though, yet did nothing about it. She had been a bit outspoken, and was very lucky she'd chosen a point where Lali wasn't listening or it would've been just rude. But he supposed she knew that. Elphaba always seemed to know more about the effects of her actions then she let on. In the end, Fiyero only said, "You don't have to call us 'Your Highness' when you're eating dinner with us. In fact," he waved his arms around foolishly, "I command you not to."

Elphaba snorted, but hid her face for a moment.

Niran blinked. "Okay, Your… I mean, okay."

Fiyero pulled out Elphaba's chair for her, waited for her to sit down, pushed it in and then took his own seat. "Niran, is it?"

The adolescent nodded feverishly.

"I assume I don't need to introduce myself or my wife?"

"No, sir!" He exclaimed.

Elphaba found this entire conversation all too amusing and sat back in her chair, crossing her legs and biting her lip. She ignored it when Fiyero glared at her. He knew she would. Fiyero wasn't really mad at her; he was glad to see she could laugh and find things funny. It let her get away with more than she should be able to, but he didn't care and she had fun with it.

Fiyero eventually found her hand beneath the table and squeezed it. She got the message. "He's met me before, haven't you, Niran?"

"Yes."

"Good. So, you go to school with Lali?"

Elphaba was close to losing control again. "Isn't that what I told you, dear?"

Lali buried her face in her hands. "Fiyero, why do you have to do this?"

Fiyero looked at his sister, almost clueless, which practically killed Elphaba. "What do you mean, Lali?"

"Can we just eat?" She pleaded.

"Fiyero," Elphaba said softly, having taken a deep breath to keep control. "Why don't you just eat dinner, sweetheart?"

She never called him sweetheart. The closest she got to an affectionate name was "Yero my hero", "my love" or "darling". "Sweetheart" was way too far for her. But apparently today was an exception. Fiyero sighed but nodded.

Fiyero's mother directed the conversation, which helped because Niran was much more comfortable with her (even though she was the former queen). He began to loosen up and he and Lali talked about their activities and outings. Elphaba listened intently, and Fiyero followed suit. But at the end of the night, Fiyero still said, "He's still a boy, Fae, and I don't like it."


	16. Chapter 16: Insanity

Chapter Sixteen: Insanity 

She was asleep next to him, smiling and nuzzled comfortably in his arms. They always slept like that, facing each other, kissing feverishly before falling asleep, if not doing more. He watched her lips, the point of her nose, her eyelashes pressed together and closed. There were nights when he'd wake up in the middle of the night for no reason at all; according to his mother, it ran in the family. His father had often done the same, apparently. Fiyero didn't know and didn't care, he thought, hugging Elphaba to him. At this time of night, he didn't care much about anything except the woman beside him.

A grin played on her lips and she murmured, "Mmm," shifting a bit, but not fully waking. She wrapped a firm grip around his shoulder, the other hand holding his. The green made her glow in the darkness, gave her an allure Fiyero doubted any other woman could ever achieve. It was not innocence or naiveté; it was not temptation to have her, or desire to control her; he knew these things were not she, and he loved that, too. Something drew him to her, always, and it scared him, at times, because he couldn't understand, and it thrilled him, most other times, because he loved the rush that came with all of this emotion. He could control it, but could never stop it. He never wanted to, anyway.

Every five years, it was duty of the Arijiki king to travel to the Emerald City to do business and meet with the Wizard. As much as he disliked being away from home, he took comfort in her presence and ease of her mind. They hadn't brought Dendrio along, Elphaba's mind reeling at just the thought of what had occurred last time they'd taken their children – child, now – with them on any sort of journey. She had been bothered at being taken away from the consolation of being moments away from her only child, but it seemed to have dissipated and she had relaxed, this fourth day, the day they had arrived at the city.

The train had arrived mid-morning, and the couple had stepped into a fast-paced world that was almost elegant in its filth. In truth, many parts of the city were run-down and grimy, but the parts that were not were glorious and made even more stunning against the backdrop and discolored tones of the dirt that consumed most of the city. Even Elphaba, who hated shopping no matter what it was for, had given in to the curiosity instilled within her and she and Fiyero had wandered the streets hand-in-hand, laughing and pointing and becoming enchanted. He'd told her later that they must've looked like a pair of young lovers who had barely discovered the joy of being with one another, and she had laughed and kissed him, telling him that they'd never have fully discovered that joy, so be it that they looked hopelessly in love; they were and would be always. Her giddiness was contagious and they didn't return to the hotel until late that night, still giggling and playing as they fell into one another's arms and into bed.

Morning came too quickly, Fiyero decided, when a sharp three knocks on the door indicated to them that it was time to wake up and prepare for a visit to the Palace. Indeed, it was not even that early – they'd been in the city a full twenty-four hours by the time – but he hated the semblance of order when it meant he couldn't control for himself how much time he spent with her lying peacefully beside him. She didn't seem to be enjoying the alarm, either.

Elphaba groaned and looked up at Fiyero. "Damn. We have to start getting ready now, don't we?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"Why can't we just stay in bed all day?"

He grinned. "As much as I'd enjoy that prospect…"

"I didn't mean like _that_!" She interrupted.

"I'm sure. Anyway, back to what I was saying, as much as we'd enjoy that, we have to have this meeting, Fae."

"Correction: _you_ have to have this meeting. It's always been the king."

"Right, but you're my queen, and you agreed with me when I thought you should come with. Whether or not you grew up in line for the throne - "

"Or whether or not I'm a woman, I deserve to be as much in on this as you. I know. I just wish this could have been a day or two later. It would've been nice to have a day off."

"It would've," he acknowledged, "but we can't. So get dressed."

She trudged across the room to the closet she'd thrown her bags in, quickly pulling out a black silk dress with elegant layers and ruffles. Paying some attention to her looks, she put the dress on and studied herself in the mirror, straightening it out. Elphaba began pulling her hair back, but Fiyero stopped her.

"I think you look more regal with your hair down."

"You just like my hair down. You don't think it looks more anything."

"Guilty. Will you leave it down, though?" He pleaded.

She couldn't resist those eyes, and she dropped the rubber band she'd had in her grasp. "Fine, then. I do believe, my darling, that I am ready."

He dusted off his own clothing and they headed out to catch the carriage to the Palace together.

The guard had raised his eyebrows at seeing Elphaba, but had obeyed Fiyero's demand that she join him. Nervously, the two held hands as they were brought into the chambers in which they were to meet with the Wizard.

He was unimpressive – a chubby old man. That didn't faze Elphaba at first, since she, of all people, wasn't one to regard looks as the most important factor. It was his behavior that repulsed her. Upon looking at her, he turned to Fiyero and asked, "Excuse me, but why did you bring your secretary?"

"I am not his secretary. I am his wife and his queen, thank you." Elphaba answered.

"Did I ask you, woman?" The Wizard demanded.

Fiyero bit his lip. "Your Ozness, this is Elphaba, the rightful third Thropp descending who gave up her position of Eminent Thropp in order to live with me, as my wife and queen."

"Whatever. Why is she here?"

"Well, since she is the queen, I figured she should have some say."

"No, she should be at home taking care of the children and being a mother. The role of the queen is to produce heirs." The Wizard shook his head. "It never was ruling, not at all."

Elphaba clenched her fists. "And why is that?"

"You are a woman. That is your job. Most princes choose their wives for the reason that they think they will breed good children and many children."

"We have one child, and more than enough nurses to care for him, and I married my wife for love." Fiyero said softly.

"Of course, that happens on occasion. But a woman has no place in the hierarchy of politics." The Wizard said.

Elphaba snarled, "Of all the sexist…"

"Elphaba," Fiyero cut her off, "don't." Turning back to the Wizard, he said, "Your Ozness, I don't agree with your views and since I am the king of the Arjikis, I don't think it matters to you how I rule my land unless it puts you in a serious conflict, which it does not."

"You've been whipped," The Wizard smirked. "She's got you controlled."

"She does not, thank you. Could we please get down to business?"

"Not until you get that _woman_ out of here. She may sit in the lobby."

"I will not!" Elphaba exclaimed angrily.

"I would like to remind you who is in charge, here." The Wizard snapped.

"Obviously not someone who should be." Elphaba muttered, storming out of the room. "You'll regret this."

Fiyero started after her. "Fae…"

"Excuse me, your highness!" The Wizard called. "I request, no, I demand that you bring her back in here so she can apologize. If she does not, I will send guards out to find her and she'll be thrown in Southstairs on counts of treason. I doubt that she will not begin to fight against me, and that can't happen."

"She's just angry." Fiyero protested.

"Prove it. Make her apologize. You have twenty-four hours. Then, you will send her back into the lobby and we'll deal with business as we were supposed to."

Fiyero bit the inside of his cheeks, finding himself almost as mad as Elphaba. Stiffly, he said, "Yes, sir." He ran down the corridors and out of the Palace to catch Elphaba, who was hailing a cab. "Fae," he grabbed her wrist.

She whirled around, face stormy. "What?"

"What do you think you're doing?"

"I need time to think."

"You don't have much. Look, the Wizard is pissed."

"Let him be." She shrugged. "Fiyero, I've got to do something. Someone needs to let Oz know what kind of person their 'Wonderful Wizard' really is!"

"They already know; they just choose to ignore it. You can't do anything."

"I can… fight against him…"

"And get arrested?"

"Let them arrest me, I don't care!"

"Take a deep breath, calm down. In a minute, you will care. What about me? What about our life?"

She looked up at him. "True…"

He said one last thing that made what she had to do all very clear. "Fae, what about our son?"

She lowered her eyes. "You're right. I'm being irrational."

He raised his eyebrows. "That was fast."

"Well, what else can I do? If I ran off now… that'd be pretty stupid." She sighed heavily.

"The Wizard wants you to apologize."

"What?" Her eyes flared again. "No way."

"Yes way." He squeezed her hand. "If you don't come back in there and apologize, he'll have you arrested and sent to Southstairs."

"That's ridiculous! I didn't _do_ anything." She protested.

Fiyero gave her a pitying look. "I know you didn't."

"That damn man is using the law just to make sure his ego doesn't get damaged. Not to mention, he's offended by me, a woman."

"He's probably not offended."

"No, probably not. He probably just wants to exercise power over me so I feel helpless, which I do." She let him lead her back into the Palace.

"Don't," he reassured her before opening the doors, "once I've dealt with him, we won't even have to really think about him much for five years. We can do what we wish, really, as long as we don't get in his way."

"His way _is_ the problem," she told him.

"I don't know what to tell you." He opened the door.

"There isn't anything to tell me." She walked in the door and curtseyed awkwardly to the guard who was there to lead them back into the Wizard's chambers.

"Not so stubborn now, are we?" The Wizard mocked.

"I must say, as the leader of Oz, you're quite childish." She replied.

"Elphaba!" Fiyero threw his hands in the air.

The Wizard asked, "Are you going to apologize for running out and being rude, Miss Elphaba?"

"I…" She faltered.

"King Fiyero, I don't want to have to ask you to force her."

"I apologize," she said quickly.

"All right, Miss Elphaba," The Wizard grinned.

Fiyero added, "It's _Queen_ Elphaba."

She smiled at him gratefully, but her eyes weren't so bright.

"She may leave. The lobby is open."

Biting down hard and clenching her fists, Elphaba left the room.

When Fiyero finally got out of his meeting, Elphaba was asleep, her knees drawn up to her chest in one of the lobby chairs. He crept up to her and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "Fae?" Fiyero nudged her lightly.

She yawned and gazed up at him. Sleepily, she murmured, "Hey there."

"Hey, love." He leaned in and swiftly kissed her on the cheek. "Shall we get back to the hotel?"

Elphaba's eyes darkened as she began to come to her senses a bit more. But what could she do? Quietly, she said, "Sure. Why not?"

He knew she was mad and upset. She didn't need to tell him at all. Her behavior revealed enough. When they entered their room in the hotel, she shoved him down on the bed and undressed the both of them, climbing over him as they made rough, relentless love time after time until she was so exhausted that she simply fell asleep – which he was glad for; he didn't know how much more he could take, either, good as it had been.

"Mmm," she'd murmured as she'd collapsed onto him, "that felt great, Yero."

He took a deep breath, watching the way his chest rose and fell, lifting her with it slightly, as well. She'd been so tired she hadn't even bothered to let him pull out before she'd fallen asleep, and he didn't want to wake her. Every time he shifted, though, he'd brush against inside of her and become aroused again, so he tried not to move too much. Fiyero ran his hands along her back, from her shoulders to her thighs, finding that this was not a good idea, either, as his hands were very tempted to simply rub her backside. Elphaba purred softly.

That made it very difficult for him to stop. In fact, it made it impossible. He kissed her forehead and then slipped his hands to her face, cupping her cheek gently. She opened her eyes sleepily, rocked her hips to tease his arousal and smirked. "Well, you seem very awake."

He flipped them over. "I am." Fiyero stroked her breasts and then bent his mouth to them. "It's very hard to stay sleeping when I keep reminding myself I'm inside the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."

Elphaba frowned, "You haven't seen many women, have you?"

He bit down, in a sort of punishment for her comment.

"Fiyero!" She moaned softly.

He thrust against her quickly, his hips shoving against hers, forcing him as far as he could go. "Oh, Fae, don't ever say you're not beautiful, or I'll really have to punish you."

The curve of her lips turned up as she adjusted so the backs of her knees were against his shoulders, giving him as much leverage as he could possibly have. "Oh, please do. I've been terribly bad."

His eyes widened. "Flexible, huh?"

She only grinned. "I've been saving that trick."

"I like it." He told her. "You feel so good around me. I just want to bury myself deep within you and stay forever."

"But then you couldn't keep moving like this," she pouted. "I think it's better this way."

He heaved himself into her again and again until he felt her muscles begin to tighten deliciously. She screamed and he let go, spilling himself into her, filling her. Panting, he finally pulled himself out of her, watching her eyes.

"Heaven," she whispered, "that's what that was. Every time we make love you take me so far I'm in heaven."

"I thought you didn't believe in heaven or hell or souls?"

"I don't. But I do for a good minute or two when you're inside me." Her breathing was labored and she was gasping for air.

"I didn't know sex could be so religious," he chuckled as he pulled her close.

"It would figure. Something pagan and wrong is what makes me see heaven." Elphaba giggled, resting her head on his chest. "You're so amazing, Fiyero. And not just because of that. You're an incredible lover, a great father, a sweet, loving husband, a very good looking man," she said playfully, then added, "and a damn good king, too."

"I'm not the only amazing one, Fae."

"Don't start." She closed her eyes. "Please."

"Fine. I won't… for now." This time Fiyero fell asleep without any further physical distractions.

They had two days to wander the city, but Elphaba didn't seem to want to leave the room. She was either taking her anger out on him in some sensual way or other or simply sulking. He enjoyed the wild sex, but he knew she couldn't keep behaving like this, or she might always be upset. On their last night, as they were catching their breath and she moved to straddle him, he regretfully stopped her. "Fae, I'm afraid we can't do that again."

"Too tired?"

"No. We're doing this for all the wrong reasons. I'd love to do that again, honestly, and it's wonderful and hot and… okay, I'd better stop thinking about it. You can't keep just forcing anger out by being rough with sex or sulking around the hotel room the way you have been. That's not the way to deal with how upset you are. It'll never actually go away."

She slipped a hand between his legs. "But Yero, don't you like this?"

He groaned. "Fae, I told you, I'd do it every night for the rest of our lives like that, but you're not doing it for the right reason. And eventually you're going to wear one of us out. The other half the time, when we're not doing this, you're sulking. I know you're upset."

She dropped her hand and faced him. "What else am I supposed to do?"

"I don't know. But you've got to get over it."

"You don't want crazy, intense sex every night?"

"No, I don't. There are nights when we don't have to have sex, and there are nights when it doesn't have to be crazy. We've gone over this. This has nothing to do with sex, really."

Elphaba looked away. "I'm just so mad, Yero. I can't believe that Oz is being run by such an ignorant jerk, and there's nothing I can do."

"Fae, all we can do is go home and run the Vinkus the way we want. So long as we don't do anything too radical, I'm pretty sure he won't stop us. We can forget, pretty much, that we're really a part of Oz at all."

She thought about this for a moment. "I think that sounds okay."

"I don't want you upset."

"I'll get over it," she decided, "once we're home and I can get back into our own routine, unaffected by His Royal Asshole."

Fiyero laughed. "Nice."

"What? It's true."

He laughed harder and gladly dragged her close to him. "It's times like this when I realize how insane I must be for loving you."


	17. Chapter 17: Not Again

Chapter Seventeen: Not Again 

When they returned home from their trip, Dendrio was more than happy to see them. He ran, stumblingly, into his mother's arms and hugged his father. Elphaba held him at arms length, "I think you've grown since we've been gone! You look even more like your father."

Dendrio giggled babyishly. "Daddy?"

Fiyero took his son from Elphaba. "Hey! I think Mommy's right. You have gotten taller!"

"If you didn't look so much like Daddy, I'd think your grandmother was playing a trick and had switched you with some other little boy." Elphaba teased.

"No, Grammy's nice."

Elphaba looked at Fiyero's mother and said, "You only think so because she spoils you."

"I did not spoil him!" Fiyero's mother argued.

Elphaba laughed. "That's what you said last time. How many cookies did he eat while we were gone?"

Fiyero's mother flushed. "I don't know. I don't think it's fair to count how many cookies a child eats!"

Elphaba kissed Dendrio on the forehead. "No wonder you've gotten so big."

"Anyway, I'm glad you two are home. Gondeko, his wife, their kids and her family are coming to dinner for the Grateful Holiday tomorrow night. I do not want to have to make conversation with six women, five of them unmarried, by myself."

"Isn't Gondeko's wife the one you were arranged to marry?" Elphaba asked Fiyero.

"I think so. What was her name again?"

"Sarima," Fiyero's mother answered. "The servants have already started preparing. You have no idea how many kids they have!"

"They can't have had that many. They were only married five years ago." Elphaba said skeptically.

"They aren't all Sarima's. Her sisters may be unmarried, technically, but that doesn't mean…"

Elphaba looked stricken. "Oh! That's terrible."

Fiyero's mother shook her head. "It happens more than you think out here."

Fiyero nodded.

"That could've been you!" Elphaba looked at him.

"Maybe." He shrugged. "I chose you instead, Fae. I'd much rather have a loving marriage." Fiyero slipped an arm around her shoulders after putting Dendrio down.

Elphaba shuddered in disgust. "I don't know how I'll be able to keep a straight face."

She could not seem to get over her horror at this. Even late that night as she got ready for bed, she couldn't get it off of her mind. Fiyero seemed completely unsurprised, not bothered in the least. "Fae, it's not my life, I'm not concerned with it."

"It could've been your life. Think of how his wife must feel!"

"He says his wife _offered_ for him to sleep with his sisters-in-law. She said they'd be glad to fulfill his energies"

"How could a woman ever do that?"

"Maybe she wasn't so keen on sex and he was and so she figured she might as well, to get him to, excuse the pun, lay off of her."

Elphaba gagged. She twitched when Fiyero wrapped his arms around her, and had trouble sleeping. In the middle of the night, she woke him. "Yero?"

"For Oz's sake, Fae, what is it?" He grumbled.

"Would you ever do that?"

He yawned. "Do what?"

"Like, if I offered to allow you to…"

"Not this again! No, Elphaba, I would certainly _not_ sleep with Nessarose. Don't even put thoughts like that into my head; it's just wrong."

"Is it wrong because she's Nessa or because she's my sister, Fiyero?" She pressed.

"Both."

"Then don't you see why this entire thing upsets me? How can that be fine and dandy, what your brother's doing? I mean, if we hadn't met, and that had been you, Fiyero, would you have done the same thing?"

"Probably not. Have you ever _seen_ those women?"

Elphaba smacked him roughly. "Fiyero!"

"I'm kidding. Elphaba, that doesn't matter. In that situation, I wouldn't be happily married to the woman who means everything to me, okay?"

"But shouldn't marriage mean monogamy?"

"Not in all situations." Fiyero answered.

She sat up, horrified.

"Fae, what if you and I couldn't get married, and I _had_ to marry someone else, but we could still see one another often, maybe all the time, would you really not want to make love with me?"

"I don't think I'd like sharing you." She responded hotly.

"I don't think you would be. Let's say I left the Vinkus to do business in the Emerald City like we just did, and I met up with you and just put off coming home for months on end, maybe even forever."

"I… I don't know what I'd do." She took a deep breath. "I guess, though, that I, not being married or committed, would be able to work against the Wizard."

"And get one of us killed or arrested!" He added angrily.

She rolled her eyes. He was on this track again. "Fiyero…"

"Are you saying you'd rather not be married so you could work against the Wizard?" He demanded.

"No! Never. Not ever, Fiyero. One can't have everything in life, only the things they want the most. And what I want to most is to be living here with you, and with our son."

"Well, good," he wrapped his arms around her tighter. "Now would you please stop thinking about me having sex with Nessa and just get to sleep?"

"Okay, okay, you win," she muttered, "because now that the thought is in my head, I think I might be too ill to stay awake, anyway."

He kissed her forehead. "Just be quiet and get some sleep, all right?"

She curled herself into the shape of his body and smiled faintly. When she closed her eyes, she fell into an untroubled, restful sleep.

In the morning, Fiyero's mother woke both of them. "I know it's early, but they're going to be here in an hour and I _need_ you two to be downstairs, or I might drive myself insane."

Fiyero groaned and began to pull the blanket off of the bed. "Mom…"

"Would you wait until I've left the room?" She exclaimed. "For Oz's sake, I saw you naked as a child enough, you can wait for a moment."

"You're the one who wanted us dressed so fast," he mumbled as his mother left the room.

Elphaba was stirring in the bed. "Fiyero, what the hell? Give me that back!" She tore the blanket from him and covered herself with it, about to go back to sleep.

"Nope." He exposed her to the cold again. "Did you not hear my mother just tell us to wake up, get dressed and come downstairs?"

"I did. I thought I was having a nightmare." Elphaba folded her arms across her chest.

Fiyero laughed. "You weren't. Now get up, love."

Downstairs, everyone nervously awaited the arrival of Gondeko and his family.

"Why don't they live in the castle, again?" Elphaba asked.

"They did, until you two came home. I told them we had enough room for you two and all of them, if not more, but they insisted on building their own giant place in the village." Fiyero's mother shrugged. "I'll never know."

"Maybe Gondeko didn't want anyone else around while he was traveling from room to room," Sidrio said.

"Or maybe he knew about you and Vernia and you started doing it in his bed, too, so he wanted to move out." Fiyero answered.

"Yero!" Elphaba smacked him. "Don't bring her up!"

Everyone was quiet for a moment.

"Sorry, Sid."

"Don't be. I'm going to remember her. Mentioning her name isn't going to make it any harder. I want to think about her, but not dwell on… what happened." Sidrio said softly.

Elphaba smiled sadly. "That's a good way to look at it, Sid."

A servant dashed into the room. "They're here!"

Fiyero's mother seemed to steel herself before heading into the front hall to welcome them. Sidrio followed. Elphaba gulped, wondering how she'd act normal as Fiyero gently pushed her along.

Gondeko and his wife were at the head of the group, three children at the woman's feet. Five women stood behind them, each had a child or two in tow. One of the women looked very pregnant, another looked like she'd only just begun to show. Elphaba tried not to seem too horrified. The wife's eyes were cold, almost dead, and she, too, was pregnant.

Fiyero wrapped his arms around Elphaba's waist from behind. "I love you," he reminded her softly.

She nodded lightly. "I love you, too," she whispered back.

Gondeko grinned at Fiyero and winked conspiratorially. "Hey, bro. You and the wife have a kid?"

Elphaba looked down at Dendrio, who was sucking his thumb. He'd insisted on walking with them and not being carried. She bent down. "Say 'hi', sweetheart."

Dendrio glanced at his mother fearfully.

"It's okay. It's just your uncle and your aunt, sweetie." Elphaba reassured him. "And your cousins."

"What about the other ladies and babies?"

"Um…" Elphaba gazed over at them for a moment. "Just think that they're your other aunts and cousins, okay?"

"Okay."

"Now, can you be nice and greet them for me?"

Dendrio nodded and waved at the group shyly. "Helwo."

Elphaba laughed. "He's still working on those 'l's."

"He's only two and a half, right?" Gondeko's wife, Sarima, asked.

"Yes. How old is your oldest?"

"I'm five!" A little boy answered from beside Sarima.

"Wow," Dendrio said, in awe, "that's realwy old."

The adults laughed. Elphaba felt relieved. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

Fiyero ruffled his son's hair and then looked at Elphaba. "We're not sure if we're going to have any more, yet."

Elphaba raised her eyebrows at him. "I thought we were sure we weren't." She hissed.

He looked at her guiltily, and said out of the side of his mouth, "Oh, yeah. Just thought it would look better."

In a low voice, she asked, "Since when have you cared?"

Fiyero shushed her and then looked back towards his brother. "She had to have a procedure the first time, and if we have more, she'll have to go through the same thing, so it's really a touchy subject."

Elphaba glared at him.

Dendrio cocked his head at his parents curiously. "What'd mommy have to do?"

"Nothing, honey, nothing." How was she going to explain that she pretty much had her stomach cut open in order to have the twins safely? How was she supposed to mention _twins_, at all? Elphaba squeezed her son's hand. "Why don't you show the other kids around?"

"Cool!" Dendrio gestured to some of the children, and the ones who could walk followed him. "I'm gonna show you my play room!"

"We have a nursery," Fiyero's mother offered, indicating the youngest children who couldn't walk. "Some of the nurses aren't caring for anyone, and they just do plain old housework, but I'm sure they'd love to help out."

Several of the women nodded and followed the woman servant who had appeared.

Fiyero's mother then decided, "Let's all head into the living room. We can sit down."

As everyone exited the room, Elphaba held Fiyero back. "What is your problem?"

"What do you mean?" He asked stupidly.

"We are sure we're not having more kids, the procedure has nothing to do with _anything_ and it was never a touchy subject. I'm starting to think you want to be like him and have kids right and left."

"I don't, I just… he's younger than me and he's got so many kids, Fae. I just feel weird not being ahead of him."

"Get over it!" She snapped. "I mean, for Oz's sake, if you care that much, you can just go have sex with one of his wife's sisters, but I'm not going to help!" Elphaba stomped out of the room.

Fiyero hung his head and entered the living room. Elphaba was sitting in a lazy chair, meant for one, looking very much like she didn't want him to join her. He struggled to beam at his brother and sat in a chair near her.

She stood up and left the room, mumbling, "I'm going to check on Dendrio and the others."

He had to find an excuse to go after her. "You know what? I think Elphaba's not feeling well. I'm going to go make sure she's doing all right."

Gondeko got up. "Bro, can I talk to you?"

"But Elphaba…" He gestured out of the room.

"It'll only take a minute."

Yeah, right. Fiyero felt like he'd spent two hours listening to his brother complain about women being hormonal by the time he made his way upstairs. As he was passing the bedroom, he heard a retching sound from within and stopped. She wasn't in the room, but the bathroom, sitting in front of the toilet with her hair pulled back. "Fae?"

Elphaba looked at him helplessly. "I'm fine."

He looked at her, looked to the ground, snapped his head up suddenly, and then said, "Oh my god."

"Fiyero…" She turned away.

He knelt down near her. "Are you…?"

She cut him off. "I'm pregnant again."

He blinked and nodded slowly. "That explains a lot."

Elphaba burst into tears. "I thought we were careful!"

"Not in the past few months, Fae. We didn't pay much attention to the calendar. It's my fault for throwing it away. You didn't know exactly where we'd left off and so we got mixed up. But that's okay. There's nothing wrong with you being pregnant, Elphaba."

"Yes there is! We agreed we wouldn't have any more. I mean, I love Dendrio, and I loved baby Galinda, but I don't know if I can take going through all of that again."

"You made it through last time; you will this time. _We_ will. This time, we know how it goes." He reassured her.

"You're so simple about it."

He took her hands in his and kissed them both. "I'm simple about it because I want this to be simple for us, not difficult."

"I…" She looked at herself for a moment, "I don't know how you feel about it, though."

Fiyero laughed. "I didn't know you had to ask. Elphaba, Fae, my love, you know I'll never be disappointed when it comes to us having more children."

She rolled her eyes. "So you're happy about it?"

"Ecstatic." He promised.

"I'm sorry."

"What? Why?"

"For being so hormonal earlier. I'm a little emotional right now."

"How long have you known?" He asked, hugging her to him.

"About a week." She told him. "I knew I was late, but I thought… I don't know. But then I started throwing up, and I knew." Elphaba turned away for a moment. "I was scared. I didn't know how you'd take it, or how I'd take it. I still don't know how I'll take it."

He chuckled. "Well, you know how I'm taking it. I'll take it good enough for both of us, if I have to."

"How do you think Den will take it?"

"He'll probably be jealous, for a while. Lali was jealous, and she wasn't even ours."

"When should we tell him?"

"Soon. At least before you start to show, because then he'll be confused and worried."

"Do we tell him the stork did it?" Elphaba joked.

Fiyero pressed his nose against hers playfully. "I don't know. It was magic?"

"He's certainly too young to know the real truth," she said.

"Yes, for sure. But we have to tell him something."

Elphaba stood up. "Let's tell him the trip to the city was because Mommy and Daddy had to meet with the baby delivering people, because they wanted a baby."

Fiyero got up, as well. "He'll wonder why, since we already have him."

"We thought he was lonely." Elphaba shrugged. "After all, he should've had a sister…" She trailed off softly.

He kissed her on the cheek soothingly. "I know."

She leaned against him. "Do you think that'll work? Saying we went to the city to talk to the baby delivering people so we could have another baby so he wouldn't be lonely?"

"I think it'll do just fine. But we should probably tell the rest of the family first."

Elphaba nodded.

"How about now? I mean, everyone's sitting in the living room. We might as well."

She took his outstretched hand and followed him down the stairs silently. When they entered the living room, the talking ceased. "Sorry we took so long. We have something to tell you."

Fiyero smiled and wrapped his arms around Elphaba's waist. "We're going to have another baby."

Fiyero's mother gasped and then leapt out of her chair and hugged Elphaba tight. "Oh! More grandkids!"

Elphaba giggled.

There was a crash down the hall suddenly. All of the adults looked at each other and then rushed into the playroom.

"Dendrio! What on earth?" Elphaba folded her hands across her chest angrily.

"I didn't mean to. We were trowing da bawall and it hit it and it fell! I didn't know it could bweak!"

Elphaba sighed in defeat and lifted her son in her arms. "I understand. There probably shouldn't be a glass vase in here, anyway. It is the playroom, after all. Now come, Mommy and Daddy have something special to tell you…"


	18. Chapter 18: Complex Percentages

Chapter Eighteen: Complex Percentages 

Fiyero sat on the couch in the living room lazily, contentedly, with his arm around Elphaba's waist so it rested on her stomach. He liked to feel the baby move. Elphaba sometimes squirmed slightly when he did that, because she wasn't used to his hands _always_ on her; yes, he'd always loved to touch her a lot, but not like this. The first time she had been pregnant, he'd only placed his hand on her belly when she'd said something about it.

But today Elphaba was in one of her more loving moods, and so she wasn't as fidgety as she was other times. "Dendrio is starting to get very jealous." She observed.

"I don't know why. His birthday was last week and we certainly didn't ignore it or anything." Fiyero shrugged.

"That doesn't matter to him. He thinks that's all going to change in a couple of months when I've had the baby."

"He's only three. That's his mindset."

"Yes, but it upsets him. His way of expressing it is to push us away, though." Elphaba shook her head.

"He'll get over it."

Elphaba sighed heavily. "I guess you're right." Suddenly, she sat bolt upright and jerked away from Fiyero, wincing.

"Fae?" Fiyero reached for her, concerned.

Hand on her abdomen, she forced a smile. "I'm fine." But she grimaced again.

"It's the baby, isn't it? What's going on?" Fiyero asked worriedly.

"I don't know. It isn't due for another two months, but…" She clenched her teeth.

"I'm calling for the midwife."

Elphaba nodded silently.

A few hours later, he was sitting outside the door of the room Elphaba was in, waiting for some sort of news. It felt the same way it had when she'd been having the twins. Except this time, things were much, much worse.

One of the women that had rushed into the room that Elphaba was in (it seemed to him that there had to be at least thirty in there, though he was probably overestimating) calmly walked out an approached him. "King Fiyero?"

He stood up quickly. "How is my wife?"

"Well, first of all, the two of you were slightly wrong about how far along she was. She's eight months. Second of all, she's going to be fine, for now, as is the child, but she has to stay in bed until she has the procedure. And if things get any worse, for her sake, we're going to have to begin it early. That is, if you say so. She won't give us the go ahead."

"Why not?"

"If we have to proceed early, it's slightly more dangerous for the child. She doesn't seem to understand that, if those circumstances occur, it's a thousand times more dangerous for her."

"_If_ things get worse, then yes, go ahead and do whatever you have to… what, exactly, are the chances of problems with the baby?"

"Should such a thing happen, the baby will be premature, though not by very long, but the child has a five percent less chance of survival than it would if it was carried to term."

"And my wife?"

"Hypothetically, if things got worse, and she didn't go through with it and waited until the child was due, she'd have a ten percent chance of survival." The woman bit her lip.

Fiyero clenched his fists. "But that hasn't happened yet, right? Nothing's gotten worse?"

"Right. As of right now, she may be able to carry the child to term without any further complications."

"May I see her, please?"

"Go on in."

Fiyero ignored the other women in the room and went straight towards Elphaba's side. "Fae," he took her hand.

"Hey," she looked up at him, dazed.

"Elphaba, you had me scared to death. I thought… anyway, it's okay for right now. But you need to promise me if you are in any more pain, love, you need to tell me, or someone. No matter what, you understand?"

"Okay." She was in a thin gown beneath a white blanket, her bloated body still quite obvious, sweat on her forehead.

"And if the midwife says so, you have to let them proceed. It's not that dangerous for the baby, Fae, but it would be for you if you didn't let them."

"I don't want anything to happen to this baby, Yero, not after Gali…"

He looked at her. "I know, I know. It's barely dangerous at all. I don't want anything to happen to _you_. Is that clear?"

"But the baby…"

"But I love you." He put his finger to her lips. "I'm not saying I'd rather the baby die, Fae. But the chances are so much better if you just let them do what they say, all right?"

"Do I have to?"

"Not if things stay the same and you're okay. Then everything will be normal. Well, as normal as it would be for this."

"I hope nothing happens."

"Me, too."

Two women stayed with them to look after Elphaba, just in case. Fiyero slept upstairs in the bedroom, but hated it. During much of the day, he'd play with Dendrio, who was bothered by the absence of his mother, and sometimes he'd bring the little boy (if he was calm enough) into Elphaba's room to see her for a few minutes. This always seemed to cheer Elphaba.

But something did go wrong. Two weeks later, one of the women rushed into Dendrio's playroom to find Fiyero. "King Fiyero, it's your wife."

"Mommy?" Dendrio asked.

"Den, stay here, okay?" Fiyero said as gently as he could.

"But I want Mommy!" He stomped his feet.

"Dendrio, I told you, you have to stay here. You'll have Mommy soon. I have to see her first."

"It's not fair! Why do you get to go first?"

Fiyero struggled to explain things to his son. "Look, please, just stay with your nurse, all right? Mommy and I love you very much and I'm sure she'd love to see you, but Mommy is a little bit sick and we don't want you to see that. I promise you'll see her soon, okay?"

Dendrio pouted but sat down on the floor and stubbornly began to play with a bunch of toy soldiers. "Fine."

Fiyero went into the hallway. "What's wrong?"

"We have to start the procedure now. She's in pain again. In fact, she was for the past day or so, but she's been trying to hide it from us, which was incredibly unsafe."

"Is she going to be okay?" Fiyero couldn't understand what the woman was trying to say.

"I don't know. After how long she waited to tell us, it's not an easy thing to tell."

Fiyero lowered his eyes. "Sweet Oz. May I see her?"

"They're already doing the procedure."

"I don't even get to say something to my wife before…"

"Your Highness, she'd gone unconscious from the pain. That's the only way we knew it was happening."

Fiyero took a deep breath. "What are her chances?"

The woman looked away.

"Tell me."

"Fifty-fifty."

"And the baby?"

"The child has a ninety percent chance of making it."

"But my wife…"

"Come, sit down. I have to go back in there. We'll tell you what's going on as often as we can." The woman led him downstairs and exited beyond the doors where things were happening that Fiyero was afraid to think about.

"Fiyero," his mother was downstairs, too. "Try not to worry too much."

"How can I not? This is my fault, mom. She didn't want to have another baby, but I threw out the calendar and ended up getting her pregnant and now she might not…" He cut himself off and buried his face in his hands.

"Shhh," his mother soothed, "it's going to be all right, sweetheart."

Fiyero didn't answer.

Several hours later, the same woman who had spoken with him before came out of the room holding a small, shrieking bundle in her arms. "Congratulations, King Fiyero, you have a girl."

Fiyero took the child from the woman and smiled down at it. The child immediately stopped crying. "She's wonderful." After a pause, he asked, "What about her mother?"

"Well, sir, um, your wife… still hasn't come back into consciousness. We thought after the procedure was over that she'd probably wake up, but nothing has happened. She can't stay like this for very long, as we have no way of keeping food in her system. Within the next twenty-four hours or so, I'd say, we'll know if she's going to make it or not. Either she'll wake up, or she won't."

A middle aged woman emerged from behind the first. "I need to take her from you for a few minutes, Your Highness. She'll need to be fed."

Fiyero kissed his new daughter's forehead and handed her to the nurse. "I understand. The nursery is upstairs." To the other woman, he begged, "Please, let me see her."

For once, the woman relented and Fiyero was led into the room. She said, "We've just cleaned up."

He didn't want to ponder on what they'd had to clean. Fiyero shakily made his way to the side of the bed and looked at Elphaba. Carefully, he reached beneath the blankets and took her hand, squeezing it softly and kissing it. "I love you, Fae," he murmured. Cupping her cheek, he pressed his lips against hers for a moment and then ran his fingers through her hair. "Please. Don't let me break the promise I just made our son. I promised him he'd see his Mommy soon. Wake up, love, so I can make good on that promise."

Elphaba did not move. Her eyes were closed, her mouth still, the expression on her face one of silence and rest, but not necessarily contentedness. Sweat dripped down her features and her cheeks were dark and flushed. The hair closest to the top of her head was matted and soaked.

Fiyero could not look at her like that. He reached for a towel and began to wipe her forehead tenderly, combing his fingers through her tangled hair. Before he could realize himself and pull away, a single tear of his fell from his cheeks to the skin of her hand.

Elphaba's eyes opened, then, and she flinched. She looked up at Fiyero and then back at herself. Her first words were, "The baby, my baby, where?"

Fiyero almost laughed with relief. "It's a girl. A nurse is taking care of her, but she's perfectly fine. She's in much better shape than you, I might add."

She gazed at him confusedly. "What do you mean?"

"Didn't I tell you to tell someone when you were in pain again?"

"Fiyero, I didn't want the baby's life in jeopardy."

"So you put yours in jeopardy instead? Elphaba, if I may say so, that is the stupidest thing you have ever done." Fiyero shook his head at her. "If you'd died, Fae, I don't know how well the three of us would've gotten along without you."

"There wouldn't have been three!"

"Yes, there would. There is. You were being ridiculous." He gestured to one of the women to retrieve the baby girl from the nurse upstairs. Turning back to her, he said, "We're not having any more children."

"We said that last time."

"I mean it this time. I do. If your life is ever going to be in peril like that again, I won't take the chance. It's my fault. I'm sorry for throwing out the calendar."

"No more throwing things away without asking me, then, okay?"

"Okay." He nodded. "Are you in pain now?"

"Nope. I do think I have a pretty bad scar this time." She tugged the blankets off of her and pulled the small gown she was wearing down to her waist. Pointing at her abdomen, she said, "See?"

"No, I don't. There's absolutely nothing there."

"I could swear there's a bright red line."

Fiyero pretended to lean in closer and then kissed her on the stomach, "I see nothing."

Elphaba smiled, finally. "You just don't want to admit it."

"Why on earth would I do that?"

"Because you insist on thinking I'm beautiful, and that scar would ruin it."

"There really isn't anything. I cannot find what you're talking about." He assured her.

The nurse entered the room with their baby, the girl crying her eyes out. When she was placed in her mother's arms, she was silenced. Elphaba's eyes filled with tears. "Oh, Yero, look at her. Isn't she amazing?"

He wiped her tears away. "Yes, she is." Fiyero sat up straight. "Oh, dear. I think I hear our son demanding to see you."

Elphaba pulled her gown back up. "Let him. He can meet his new sister."

"Wait." Fiyero stopped one of the women from opening the door. "We have to name her, Fae."

"Oh, right!" Elphaba gazed down affectionately at her new baby girl. "I don't know. What do you think, darling?"

"Hmmm… I was thinking Fiyera."

Elphaba smacked him in the arm. "Very funny. We are not naming our child after you. She'd be terribly silly."

Fiyero chuckled. "That's what you think. Well, come up with something, then."

"Nyra," she decided. "I think it sounds pretty, and sweet, just perfect for her."

"Nyra it is, then."

At that moment, the door opened and Dendrio came bounding into the room. "Mommy!"

Elphaba sat up a little bit. "Hey, sweetie. Come here, I want you to meet your new baby sister."

Dendrio walked slowly towards the bed, almost nervous. "She's tiny." He observed.

"Of course she is, Den. She hasn't grown. She will. Her name is Nyra."

"Nyra," Dendrio repeated.

"Yes."

"Can I hold her?"

Elphaba patted Dendrio on the head. "I'm afraid not, sweetie. I don't think you're quite old enough."

"But I'm three!" He argued.

"It's not a good idea for people who aren't mommies and daddies and nurses to hold babies, Den." Fiyero interrupted.

"But Lali used to hold me! I remember." He retorted.

"Lali was eleven. That's much different than three," Fiyero told him. "I'm sorry, Den. Soon enough, she won't need to be held and then she'll want someone to play with, though."

"I don't wanna play with a girl! They've got cooties."

"She's your sister."

"I don't care. I don't wanna play with anyone who's so little."

Fiyero grumbled, exasperated. "Whatever you say."

Elphaba tried, "She'll be bigger soon. Babies grow really fast, just like you do. I think you've grown a whole inch since I've been in here, sweetie."

"Really, Mommy?"

"Yeah." She ruffled her son's hair.

"I'm gonna go measure!" Dendrio was running out of the room as quickly as he'd come in, skipping.

Elphaba collapsed back on the bed, laughing. "I love this."

"Me, too." Fiyero kissed her on the cheek.

"I hope she'll be happy." She stared down at Nyra. "I really hope she will."

"How could she not be, with you as her mother?"

"And you as her father." Elphaba added.

"And quite the rambunctious one for a big brother." Fiyero grinned.

"He gets it from you." Elphaba teased.

"If you weren't holding our newborn daughter right now, I'd show you rambunctious." He threatened playfully.

Elphaba rolled her eyes. "That's what you'd like to think."

After two days of bed rest, she was allowed to leave the room and walk around. Fiyero didn't give her much chance to walk around; he practically carried her anywhere she wanted to go.

"Put me down, Yero!" She protested. "I can get up the stairs just fine."

He obliged but stayed right behind her in case she should fall.

"I'm not handicapped." She growled, opening the door to their bedroom. "I'd just like to sleep in my own bed for once."

"_Our_ bed, thank you," he corrected.

Elphaba undressed and jumped into the bed. "See? I've got quite a lot of energy. You don't need to be such a worry."

"Oh? How much energy is quite a lot?" He challenged, his eyes sparkling.

"You'll just have to find out in the morning. I'm sleeping now. You are not delaying it."

Fiyero undressed and crawled into bed next to her. "I love you, you know."

"I'm sleeping," she muttered. "Shut up."


	19. Chapter 19: Girl Stuff

Chapter Nineteen: Girl Stuff 

Fiyero was upset. Okay, so that was an understatement. Fiyero was pissed off beyond all hell, as Elphaba put it. Elphaba wasn't sure how to deal with him, so she took to the nursery to play with Nyra, now a year old, and Dendrio came in and joined her (she knew he'd never meant it when he said he didn't want to play with the baby). She was having issues of her own at the moment.

In a year, they'd most likely send Dendrio off to school. There were no good schools anywhere near them and they wanted for him to have a good education. Unfortunately, that meant boarding school. Elphaba couldn't bear the thought of only seeing her son for the fall holidays, winter holidays and summer holidays. But she knew that she would send him; she had to. It just saddened her.

_Well_, she thought, _at least I have Nyra for another three years after he's gone_. The little girl had not yet begun to talk, but she often made noises sounding like she was attempting to. It looked like her first word was going to be the one she heard her older brother say so often: "Mommy".

She was pondering on how selfish she was being with her thoughts when Fiyero appeared in the doorway. Glancing at him for only a second before turning her attention back to the giggling girl in her arms, Elphaba asked, "Yes, love?"

"Why'd you disappear on me?" He demanded.

"Do I have to tell you where I'm going every minute? I don't think so. Besides, you aren't in a good mood right now, obviously, and I wanted to leave you be to sort things out." She cooed down at Nyra. "I love you, yes I do." Elphaba kissed the infant's nose playfully.

He softened, watching his family, and sat down next to Elphaba. "I'm sorry, Fae."

"What upset you?"

"You didn't hear about it?"

Elphaba shook her head. "Not at all."

"Lali and Niran."

"She's fourteen."

"That's not nearly old enough to be kissing a boy!" Fiyero exclaimed.

Elphaba perked up. "You caught them kissing? I'm sad I missed it!"

Fiyero glared at her.

"What?"

He folded his arms across his chest.

"Oh, fine. So it's a little odd. But Fiyero, people, normal people, not like us, sometimes have their first kiss when they're, I don't know, twelve or thirteen. In some ways of looking at it, those two are rather late."

"I didn't have my first kiss until… until…"

"Until when?" She was smirking.

He pulled her to him and kissed her deeply. "Until you."

Nyra started to cry. "Yero! You upset her. Don't do that!" Elphaba exclaimed. "She'll be crying for hours now, thanks to that."

"She's upset just because I kissed you?"

"Ew!" Dendrio was pushing between the two. "That's icky."

Elphaba rocked Nyra helplessly. "That was completely inappropriate, Fiyero."

Fiyero grumbled, "Women."

"Get out of here," she snapped, "you're causing too much commotion. Take Den and I'll try and calm Nyra down."

"Hey, Den, you want to go downstairs and see if Grandma has any cookies leftover?" Fiyero asked, knowing it peeved Elphaba when they gave the boy too many sweets.

Elphaba stuck her nose in the air and pretended to ignore him.

Exiting the room, he said, "Now, son, I want you to learn something. Never make a woman angry. You'll never live it down."

After having put the children to bed, Elphaba climbed into her own bed, feeling glad to be getting some rest. That peaceful feeling didn't last long, however, as Fiyero entered the room two seconds later and began undressing. She scooted over in the bed to give him room.

He pulled her closer to him and kissed her.

"Not now. In the morning," she mumbled.

Fiyero sighed and left one last kiss on her neck before simply closing his own eyes. "I love you," he said, as usual.

"Mmm hmm." She answered.

In the morning, Fiyero felt something wriggling against him. Opening his eyes reluctantly, he found Elphaba squirming and shaking in her sleep. This was odd. He shook her gently. "Fae."

She bolted up, panting, and then relaxed and laid back down. "Okay. Wow."

"Having a bad dream?"

"No. A very good, very active dream."

"Can I help you relive it?" He offered.

She accepted.

It was still early when the two lay together, quiet and close. Elphaba occasionally voiced worries that Dendrio would sneak away from his nurse and creep into their bedroom, and then what would they say? Fiyero knew she was being overly cautious and just nipped at her neck in response.

There was a soft knock on the door and Elphaba leapt out of bed, pulling on a robe. Her eyebrows were furrowed. It wasn't Dendrio (he wasn't so good at remembering to knock) and the servants knocking usually sounded harsher than that. Opening the door, she smiled, "Lali!"

"Elphaba?" The young girl looked bothered, "Can I talk to you in private about girl stuff?"

Elphaba looked back at Fiyero for a moment, who shrugged. "Um, yeah, sure."

Lali peeked into the room really quickly before Elphaba shut the door behind her and giggled, putting a hand to her mouth.

Elphaba glared at her. Well, she tried to glare at her.

Lali just smiled smugly.

"Not a word." Elphaba warned.

"Well, that's actually kind of sort of what I wanted to talk to you about."

Elphaba sat down next to the girl as they reached the living room. "What do you mean?"

Lali's face flushed. "See, yesterday, I started bleeding, you know, and like, my mom explained stuff to me, but she didn't really want to say much."

What in Oz gave the girl the idea that _Elphaba_ was the one to talk to about this? Elphaba bit back a groan and put her hand on Lali's shoulder sympathetically. "What did she say?"

"She pretty much said 'the man does this, then there's a baby'. There's more to it than that. I know there is. People do it all the time, and sometimes people do it even when they don't want babies. Like you and Fiyero."

Elphaba was thinking at this point that Fiyero's mother was never going to hear the end of it from her when she got the chance. "What gave you the idea that Fiyero and I don't want children?"

"You did. You say always say that you don't want to have any more kids. But this morning, I know that's what you were doing. I mean, why else would you guys be naked?"

"I wasn't naked."

"I'm pretty sure you were before I knocked on the door – which is why I knocked and didn't come in right away."

Elphaba sighed. "We appreciate that."

"So why do you do it?"

If this wasn't the most awkward conversation she'd ever have, she didn't know what was. "Well, you're right, Lali, sex isn't just about having children. It's a way of, um, expressing love between two people who've been together for a long time and are old enough and mature enough and, most of the time, married. That's why it's also referred to as making love."

"But why? I mean, why not just say 'I love you'? It's easier." Lali insisted.

"Because, Lali, when a man and a woman make love, it's very special. It takes much more time and energy than simply saying the words."

"What do you mean? I thought a man just…"

_Oh, sweet Oz!_ "Your mother was a little neglectful in telling you these things. A man doesn't just put himself into a woman, he moves himself in and out for a long time, or a short time, depending on certain things."

"Why?"

"Because all of that rubbing and movement feels very nice to him, and in order for him to be able to spill his, uh, seed into the woman, he has to feel at the top of all of that, he has to feel really good, so good it causes him to, well, ejaculate, and that means he spills the stuff into the woman that could make her pregnant, if she's at the right point in the blood cycle."

"But why would a woman bother to sit through all that?" Lali wondered.

"It feels good for her, too. Sometimes it feels so good that she might scream in delight – but that doesn't mean you should go out and try it any time soon! In fact, it hurts the first time. A woman has this protective layering and it breaks and it hurts a bit. That's why you want to wait until you're married so you know the man you make love with will be kind and gentle and will love you no matter what."

Lali shuddered. Then she cocked her head and stared at Elphaba. "So you and Fiyero still do it because it feels really good?"

Elphaba covered her face with her hands. "And because we love each other, Lali. That's the main point. Sex is more about love than it is about pleasure. You have to understand that. Some people, mostly men, don't seem to get that as well, and they'll do it just for the way it feels, but you shouldn't ever do that. That's not what it's really about, Lali. What I'm trying to say is that love and sex and marriage go hand in hand."

Lali nodded slowly. "Mommy says I'm old enough to get married in a year and a half, when I turn sixteen."

"What?"

"Well, out here, boys get married when they're eighteen or so and girls when they're sixteen, unless the boy is a prince, of course."

_Sarima's two years younger. No wonder it was no problem she married Gondeko._ "I think that's mostly up to you, Lali. You don't have to get married until you want to and you're ready to."

"I think I might love somebody." She looked at Elphaba's face. "Not enough to do that sort of thing with, not yet, but enough that I would marry him in a little while, if he asked."

Elphaba knew whom she was talking about. "Isn't Niran your age, though? He'd have to get married at eighteen."

"No." Lali shook her head. "He's seventeen right now."

Elphaba's eyes widened. She thought for a moment. "I guess I always thought he looked a bit old to be fourteen."

"And he'll be eighteen and a half. I'm sure half a year won't matter, will it?"

"I'm sure it won't. But your brother is going to kill me if he knows I've had this conversation with you."

"That's why he was so mad, wasn't it? Because he thought that if Niran and I were kissing, then we'd do other stuff, too?"

Elphaba squeezed the girl's shoulder. "Yes. He just doesn't want you to get hurt."

"I won't. Why would anyone? Doesn't everyone wait?"

Elphaba winced. "Some people make mistakes."

"Is it really that bad the first time?"

Elphaba thought she was going to scream in a moment. "Sure, why not?"

"Why not?" Lali repeated.

"Oh god. Okay, Lali, I'm going to tell you something, but I'm telling you because I want you never to do what I did, all right? I'm telling you because I think you're old enough to know. Do not ever tell your mother, or your brother, or anyone, for that matter. Okay?"

Lali looked eager. "Okay!"

"Most girls who did what I did get called bad names for this. You never want to do this. Ever. It was stupid of me, absolutely stupid."

"Would you just tell me?"

"When your brother and I were at college, we weren't very close. We knew each other, but we were little more than friends. I'd always had a crush on your brother, though, and he claims he'd secretly had some affection for me. Well, one night, when a group of us went out and had some drinks, your brother and I separated from them, had more to drink and ended up in his dorm. Partially because we were drunk and partially because of our feelings for each other, we had sex. Neither of us remembered when we woke up in the morning, though."

"Then how do you know?" Lali asked curiously.

"There was blood on the sheets." Elphaba gave Lali a look. "Yes, you do bleed. Only a little, but you do. And we were in his bed, not wearing anything. At that point, we admitted our feelings to one another and decided to start dating. We promised we'd never behave like that again until we were married. That lasted almost a year. When your father died, Lali, Fiyero and I had been having trouble seeing one another because my Nanny had found out about what had happened between us. Fiyero left me a note and I snuck over to his room that night to comfort him. He begged me to spend the night and I agreed. The two of us were both in crazy emotional states, and when we kissed, we lost control and we did it again. But that was the last time until we were married."

"Did you really love my brother then, too?"

Elphaba smiled softly. "Yes."

"Then it's sort of okay, right?"

"No!" Elphaba jumped up. "It is not okay. It was, for us, but sometimes… Lali, men like to trick women into thinking they're in love just so they can have sex. Your brother isn't like that, and I know you wouldn't hang out with anyone like that, but you have to be careful. The best thing you can do is wait until you're married."

"I wasn't planning on doing it any earlier."

"Good." She hugged the girl – no, young woman – and sat back on the couch.

"Fae? Lali?" Fiyero had gotten dressed (somewhat, he was only wearing pants) and was peering at them from the hall.

Elphaba beckoned him into the room and he sat next to her happily, Lali on her other side. She kissed him on the cheek and settled into him.

"What's going on?" He asked suspiciously.

"Girl stuff." Lali said.

"Elphaba doesn't believe in 'girl stuff'." Fiyero muttered.

"I do. You just don't know, because you're a man." Elphaba laughed. "And, in a moment, I will wave my arms and you will forget everything." She pretended to wave her arms dramatically.

"I have not forgotten anything."

"Damn."

"Elphaba!" Lali exclaimed. "That was a swear word."

Elphaba bit back another expletive and shrugged.

Lali, to rise a reaction from Fiyero, said, "Elphaba was just further detailing for me the facts of life and sex."

Fiyero pulled his arm from around Elphaba and looked at her. "You what?"

"Your mother told her nothing! I had to say something. She asked. What was I supposed to say? Especially after she _had_ just found the two of us in our bedroom and you were naked."

Fiyero flushed. "So we sleep naked?"

"She's not an ignorant nine-year-old anymore, love. At fourteen, she deserves to know, and more than just 'a man puts this there and then nine months later there's a baby'. Think of what would happen to the poor thing on her wedding night if that's all she knew!"

"It doesn't matter. That's not any time soon."

"It's in a year and a half, Fiyero, and you'd better accept it. You and I may be a bit different than the customs around here say, but she isn't going to be. Live with it!"

"She's too young!"

"I'm right here!" Lali interrupted.

"Yes, I know, Lali." Elphaba acknowledged. "Fiyero, please. If you can't handle this, I don't want to know what you're going to be like years and years from now when Nyra gets married."

Fiyero glanced at Lali. "I guess, maybe…"

"Fiyero!" Lali huffed. "I'm not a baby."

"She's not, Yero." Elphaba reminded him.

"Fine. But I don't want to hear anymore about it!"

Elphaba rolled her eyes, but obeyed, and simply nuzzled against him, persuading him to put his arm around her again. She smiled at him sweetly. "I love you."

He kissed her forehead. "I love you, too."

Lali pretended to gag and left the room.

Elphaba giggled slightly, but hid it from Fiyero. "Yero, you know, you have two children to be the father of, you don't have to decide to be Lali's father, too."

"But I am her big brother, and when it comes to boys, older brothers and fathers act the same way." Fiyero said stubbornly.

"We've already had this conversation," Elphaba remembered.

"Yes, we have." Fiyero leaned his head back. "What a thing to wake up to."

"You didn't have the conversation I just had. You can't talk."

"What did you tell her?"

"I told you, I explained things. That's all."

Fiyero rolled his eyes. "How?"

"It was awkward enough saying it once, love, I'm not going over it," Elphaba said.

"Want to go over it upstairs, or in the library, or somewhere else private?" He teased.

"Oh," Elphaba asked innocently, "How could we do that?"

"Well," Fiyero licked his lips and grinned, "first I'd take off your clothes, then mine."

"And?"

"Want to know more?"

She stuck out her tongue.

"I assume that's a yes. Well, a little foreplay and soon enough I'd be inside you and kissing you and…" He made a hand gesture. "I'm sure you know the rest," he kidded. "Or do you want me to tell you?"

"I'm well acquainted with it. Want to know something?" She asked, just as playfully.

"What?"

"Your sister's in the doorway."

Fiyero leapt off the couch. "Damn it, Lali!"

Lali just cocked her head and asked, "What's foreplay?"


End file.
